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The days continued to roll by as the group prepared for their daring heist, Alkali making sporadic appearances at the convention in order to keep up an alibi while the others prepared for the work ahead. Soon there were only two days left until the final day, and even though the ferret wished he could either be helping at the warehouse or in the butcher shop he knew as the public face of this whole thing that he couldn't afford to be vacant for long stretches of time. Draggor had told him that he would keep them up to date on any progress or mishaps during the process, but that did little to ease his nerves as he went from booth to booth and signed his name down. Once he had finished rubbing elbows with other members of the Securities committee he went to the casino to put in some face time with the casino cameras as well.

Just as the ferret was trying to decide on whether to visit the card tables or play some craps he felt his phone buzz. After taking a quick glance to try and block out the view of as many cameras as possible he fished out his phone and looked to see there was a new message in his inbox. At first he thought it was just Draggor, but when the number popped up it was one he had never seen before. Instantly his mind went to the worst case scenarios; had he been too obvious in his act to establish an alibi, or had someone figured out that the others that occasionally stopped at the hotel were with him, even though they made sure to stay as far apart as possible?

He decided to take this to the most private place he could think of where he wouldn't be seen, opening the door to the men's bathroom and sitting in one of the stalls. Once he had taken a second to settle himself he opened the message and read it. It wasn't much, merely a single line of text saying to come to the small restaurant in an hour and to order a number of specific items on the menu. When he tried to respond to it he found his number had been blocked.

Alkali could feel himself begin to sweat as he put the phone back in his pocket and carefully weighed his options. Even if he sent out the SOS the others wouldn't be there in time to back him up, and with no idea what he was walking into it might be too hasty to make such a signal, anyway. Unfortunately with the way the meeting was set up he was at the disadvantage since the mysterious messenger would be able to identify him without any way for him to do the same. Part of him just wanted to skip the meeting altogether, but if this person or persons knew of what they were planning and leaked it to security because he didn't meet with them...

An hour later the ferret still hadn't quite made up his mind on what he wanted to do as he stared at the restaurant that he was supposed to go into. It was one of the smaller establishments that mostly dealt in quick things such as fried and other finger foods for the express purpose of serving those that wished to get back to gambling as quickly as possible. That also meant a high turnover rate and less chance of someone noticing someone in particular being there. Whomever was attempting to meet him was very smart and cautious, Alkali thought to himself as he stepped into the queue waiting to order food, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing yet.

Once he had gotten his food Alkali wasn't sure what to do next, the message had just told him what to order and that was it. After a few moments of glancing for some sort of sign he just sat down in one of the booths and took out his phone to pretend to play with it while waiting for another message. "Welcome to the Fast Cash Diner," a voice said after the ferret had been waiting there for about of minute, Alkali looking up to see the smiling face of a panda looking down at him. "Is there anything that I can do for you to help make your experience better?"

"Oh... uh..." Alkali replied as he looked around, not expecting the sudden attention. He feared that if someone was talking to him that it would scare off the one who set this up and quickly shook his head. "No, I'm fine, thanks though."

"Are you sure?" the panda replied. "I was told by the cashier that you might have gotten overcharged for your order. I would hate to have someone get stolen from while at this casino."

As the manager widened his eyes to emphasize the point Alkali recognized the signal and immediately went into a different mindset. "Well let me check my receipt then," he said as he took out the piece of paper. While the order had been put in correctly he saw that the time stamp had been altered, showing a date and time in the future as well as an address that wasn't this particular eatery. "Everything looks fine to me."

"Excellent," the panda replied. "If you need anything else feel free to get me, my name is Pandez and I'm the food and beverage coordinator for this casino."

As Pandez left him alone once more Alkali's head was swimming with new questions as well as the old ones that he still didn't have answers to. Who was this panda and why was he helping him? Had Nizzbit managed to set up someone inside the casino that could help them? He would have imagined that if the tiger managed to get someone like that he would have immediately told him, and the fact that he didn't made him more suspicious than ever.

Alkali just shook his head and ate the food on the tray, not wanting to let it go to waste before wandering around the casino once more. From the time stamp on the receipt he didn't have too long to reach his destination of the casino's off-track betting room. The room was saturated with thick clouds of smoke that made him gag and cough as he made his way towards an empty seat in the back and sat down. A few minutes later a drink was set down in front of him and the chair next to him became occupied with the panda next to him.

"Sorry for the cloak and dagger routine," Pandez said as he gave a careful look around. "But it would have been stranger for me to just come up to you and say hello given the heightened security around the place. Since this place is one of the few areas that still allow smoking a lot of other employees come here on their break, so seeing someone in uniform here isn't strange."

"Oh no, I totally get it," Alkali replied as he took the drink. "My question is why you're doing this."

"Well I heard through the grapevine that someone was looking for a person they could trust in the casino," Pandez explained in a slightly more hushed tone. "Though I was never asked directly as the food and beverage coordinator you hear a lot of rumor, so it wasn't long before I pieced together what was going on. Now I'm sorry again for springing this on you, but if you're going after what I think you're going after, I want to help."

The sudden offer took Alkali by surprise on multiple fronts. The first was that someone had managed to piece together their plan from the inquiries that were made, which made him wonder who else might have figured out part of or all of their plan. The second was that while it would be great to have an inside man to help them with matters of casino security, he still couldn't fully trust the panda. But it seemed that this Pandez had enough information and intelligence to be able to get in contact with him, which meant that he could have already blown the whole operation if he wanted to.

"So what do you get out of this?" Alkali asked. "And how did you get my phone number?"

"Oh, your number was easy," Pandez replied with a grin. "I took a walk around the convention after seeing your name on the hotel registry and you put it down about a dozen times on various forms. As for what I get out of this... let's just say I'm doing this to help out a friend in need."

Though the explanation was vague, something that the panda once more apologized for, Alkali decided that it was good enough for him for now. After the ferret got the contact information the panda informed him that his break was over and got up to leave. Alkali waited a few more minutes before leaving, himself, as to not rouse any suspicions, leaving the betting area smelling like cheap cigars as he walked back into the main casino. An inside man... that was just what he had been hoping for, and he knew exactly what he needed him to do first.

************************************************

Back at the staging area Alkali informed Draggor and Xander of the newest edition to the group while Serathin and several of the huscoons worked on the sabrewolf's rigging system. "What we have here is a great opportunity to try and hack into the security systems of the casino and the convention center," the ferret explained. "There's going to be a rather impressive banquet dinner held for all the commissioners in one of the main halls of the casino, and since the casino and the convention center share a kitchen we can use the access given to us by Pandez in order to move back and forth between the secure areas of both."

"So Xander and I are going to pose as waiters and get inside the kitchen with this Pandez guy?" Draggor replied with a shrug. "Sounds easy enough."

Alkali shook his head and rubbed over his eye. "It's not going to be that simple," the ferret explained. "Miko is no slouch when it comes to security, from what Pandez told me there are various checkpoints to go from one section of the casino or convention center to the other. That means the same pass can't be used to get a waiter into the kitchen and a security guard into the service center for the security systems."

"So... we're going to need two different forms of identification?" Xander asked. "One to get into the kitchens and a second one to get into the secure servers?"

"You're going to need three," Alkali clarified, causing both dragon and demon to have their eyes widen. "A waiter, an IT administrator, and a security clearance pass."

"So not so easy then," Draggor replied with a sigh. "It sounds like we just have Serathin sneak in and avoid the countermeasures all together."

"Not going to work, either," Alkali replied. "The servers are all black-boxed and locked down, even if Serathin could get in without freezing to death from the coolant pipes he would still need you to hack into the network."

"What was that?!" Serathin shouted, swinging slightly from a tether while upside down. "Did someone just say I was freezing to death?!"

"Of course not!" Xander shouted back. "We were talking about... ice cream... and if you wanted a freezy pop."

"Oh..." Serathin replied, rocking back and forth in the air before looking back at them. "I want a cherry one."

The three of them looked at one another and nodded, waving at the suspended sabrewolf before going back to their conversation. "Great, now I have to buy freeze pops." Alkali said with a sigh. "But if anyone here has a plan to get through this I'm all ears, it's going to be way better to do this heist with eyes in the sky than going in blind and hoping we don't get caught on camera."

The three looked down and shared a heavy silence as they all contemplated what to do, staring down at the crude sketches they had made of the kitchens and server room they were trying to infiltrate. Finally it was Xander who announced that they had an idea, going over it with the others on what his plans were. Though it involved bringing in another person the plan seemed sound enough to them to go for it. When Alkali checked his watch he saw that their window of opportunity was about to open soon and flagged down Bad Habit Rabbit, who had at that point been doing laps around the open tarmac, and got a quick ride into the city with him.

Night was falling just as Xander and Draggor got to the meeting spot, the two of them waiting outside one of the service doors in the parking lot. Even though they were well out of spotting range for the cameras that were positioned to keep surveillance of the area they still felt like they were being watched. They tried to look as inconspicuous as possible despite the fact that the car they had came in quickly drove off to avoid being seen by the casino wasn't helping their image. Thankfully they didn't have to wait long as the car they were waiting for pulled up into the parking lot near the picnic bench they were sitting at.

"And the great Diz appears," Xander said as he gave the avian a hug before motioning for the demon to come over. "Draggor, I want you to meet Diz. I met him on the entertainment circuit and he's a magician of sorts."

"Quick change artist, actually," Diz corrected as he moved towards the trunk of his car and opened it to reveal a large trunk filled with clothing.

"And you've done something like this before?" Draggor asked as he was handed a uniform. "When Xander told me that you did stage performances he didn't mention whether or not you had done anything... like this."

"You mean break into places?" Diz said, the other two quickly hushing him as they looked around. "I've done stuff like this plenty of times, you'd be surprised what you can get away with when you can assume multiple identities. Speaking of which, did you give those identities to Pandez so that he could put them into the system?"

"We got you covered," Draggor replied. "Now these are only going to work once, so the second you use an identity consider it burned. Now Xander is going to be staying as a waiter to provide back-up and I'm going to be giving myself the IT administrator identification, which means you're going to be the gatekeeper on this one."

"Xander explained it to me over the phone," Diz mentioned as he put on his waiter outfit. "Just point the way and get me through the gauntlet, then I'll get you through the checkpoints."

The other two nodded, trying to push back the concern they felt as they looked over at the first card reader. It was the one that Xander and Diz were going to go through alone, the demon brandishing a tuxedo from the trunk instead in order to get to his position. Once they were completely ready the dragon and avian went over to the first card reader and slid the identification cards that were given to them, waiting to be let in by the security guard watching the camera to check them against their faces.

After a few seconds they heard the door open and the two stepped inside, hearing the clattering and chaos of the kitchens beyond as they adjusted their waiter outfits. To Xander it was like he was stepping into the lion's den, after having studied the place so thoroughly on paper it was weird to see the actual walls and equipment that had been represented by boxes and diagrams before. There were also the people that filled the space as well, from other waiters that dismissed them or told them where to go to the kitchen staff that were either pouring their focus and energy on their food or yelling at the waiters. While it was hard to keep track of everything both intruders were actually thankful for all the distractions since it meant less eyes on them as they tracked their way through kitchen to the main ballroom.

Diz and Xander both grabbed the first tray they could, the dragon getting a plate of oysters while the bird got one full of champagne glasses, and moved into the grand ballroom. Much like the kitchens they were met with a slew of people, but instead of chef coats and waiter's jackets it was tuxedos and three-piece suits. With their disguises continuing to give them cover Diz broke off and went over to the door that was their main goal while Xander made his way to the front of the room. As he passed by people took the food off of his tray, and as the platter began to grow empty he worried that he wasn't going to make it to his destination before it ran out.

By the time the dragon got to the large mahogany ballroom doors he still had two left on his tray, which was enough for him to sell his bit as he looked for Draggor. It didn't take long to spot the demon in the tuxedo, who had already gotten up to one of the door guards and was having a conversation with them, and immediately changed course in order to intercept him. "Mr. Devlin!" Xander said when he got up to the two, the huge rhino security guard shifting his attention to the dragon waiter. "The other council members have been expecting you."

"Whoa, wait a second there," the rhino said as Xander attempted to bring Draggor into the ballroom with him. "This guy doesn't have a ticket, and I can't let anyone in without a ticket. He's just going to have to either get it or not get into the party."

"You see what I'm dealing with here?" Draggor said as he threw up his arms in the air.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Devlin," Xander said as apologetically as possible before turning his full attention to the security guard. "You do know who you're stopping, right? That he's been specifically invited to this party by someone who could probably have you out on the street with one word to Miko."

"I... what..." the rhino said as he was suddenly looking between the two of them, trying to remain composed despite getting knocked on tilt. "I mean, if this is Mr. Samoto the hotel has tried to accommodate him as best as possible..."

"Not if this is the way that you're treating his special guests," Xander quickly replied. "Now do you want to be the one that tells Mr. Samoto that his meeting is going to be delayed yet again by the hotel? Because I'm not going to do it, I actually like my job."

It was clear that Xander had struck a nerve as the rhino continued to look around as though trying to find the answer to the question in the air, which was when the dragon decided to really put the pressure. "You know what, I can tell him for you," he said as he began to turn to walk away. "What's your name? I'm sure he's going to want to know that after I inform him that his guest is being stopped at the door for something as paltry as a guest ticket. Or even better, I could come and get him so that you can talk to him personally!"

"No!" the rhino nearly shouted, holding his hands up to stop Xander before looking at Draggor. "My apologies Mr. Devlin, go right in. And please... give Mr. Samoto my best."

The dragon gave the guard a curt nod and instructed Draggor to follow him to meet up with his client. When they got far enough away the demon breathed a sigh of relief and looked back to make sure they were far from the door and the rhino that guarded it. The two needed to make sure they were seen together as little as possible and while Xander went back to the kitchen to keep up his post Draggor made his way to the security door where Diz was chatting with some of the guests. The demon went up to Diz and asked if he could direct him to where the restrooms were, the disguised waiter nodding and motioning for him to follow as they headed towards the security door.

"Alright then..." Draggor whispered as they continued to walk together. "I know that you're good and all but this place is rather exposed and I can't go back with you into the kitchen."

"Just relax," Diz replied with a smirk on his beak. "I got this under control, all you have to do is follow me and pull on the straps that I told you to pull on. Our cover is right over there."

The cover that Diz was referring to was a curtain that had gotten pulled away from the wall slightly by a potted plant. While it wasn't much of a space between the two walls it was enough for the two of them to pass through. The two took one last look to make sure no one was actively looking at them before they made their pass under the billowing fabric. Their cover lasted only for a few seconds but when they emerged from the other side it was as two different people.

For Draggor it was merely a change of clothes, the tuxedo giving way to a more work appropriate button down shirt and tie along with simple black slacks. It was a simple shift but one that would hopefully distinguish him from the party guest that had entered in the first place. For Diz, though, his few seconds were utilized to do a complete makeover, not only in his clothes that had gone from waiter to maintenance man but in species as well. The dragon gave Draggor a wink and didn't even break his pace to get to the door where he slid in his second identification card into the reader next to it.

"Remember, this one I had to put into the system, myself," Draggor whispered as he slid his own card through. "It's not going to hold up like the one we gave to Pandez, so consider the clock started."

Diz nodded and the two waited for a minute until the door finally buzzed and granted them access. They immediately made their way inside and closed it behind them, then continued to move forward towards the server room. Meanwhile their previous disguises were in a canvas bag that the now draconic magician had somehow managed to stuff them into. It also enhanced the illusion that they were supposed to be there, though if a security-conscious person happened to examine it they would find clothes instead of tools.

Using the knowledge they had from the blueprints Draggor and Diz continued to make their way to the server rooms, Draggor staying a few steps ahead to scout the place since his identification was the one primarily getting them through this leg of the journey while the dragon still had one left in reserve. The precaution ended up being their saving grace as just before he got into the hallway with the door he turned the corner and bumped into a kitsune girl that was in a rush to go the other way. "Ah, sorry about that!" Draggor said as he motioned as best he could to Diz to hold back.

"My fault," the kitsune replied with a giggle, the demon looking down at the nametag on her shirt that read Skylar Starborn. "I was just thinking about the breakdown of the main hall and was off in my own little world as usual!" Just as Draggor thought that they might be in the clear her bubbly disposition turned slightly more serious as she looked at him. "I don't think that I've seen you around before."

"Oh... the higher ups called me in here to fix a server issue," Draggor quickly replied, looking out of the corner of his eye to see his draconic counterpart looking at him as if silently asking him what he needed to do. "You know how it is, it's always a party when you have to deal with a cascading failure in the hard drives. I'd explain it but it'd probably bore you to tears."

"Well, I probably wouldn't understand it anyway," the kitsune replied, her three tails wagging in the air the as she continued to look at him. "But I'm more curious on where your security liaison is? We always have one to accompany third-party vendors when they're moving through restricted sections."

Draggor could feel himself start to panic as he tried to figure out what to say next. He desperately wished that Xander was there, but with his false identification burned there was nothing he could do from the kitchen area. Diz also couldn't just change to his guard disguise and the hallway had nothing he could even step behind in order to mask it. That left the demon in a pickle as he could see the vulpine grow more suspicious by the second.

Just as Draggor was about to launch into a series of technical jargon that might confuse the young lady he saw a large steel cabinet come out of one of the other doors and roll their way. Both the kitsune and the demon had to step back to allow the person pulling it behind him to pass and when he turned the corner he saw Diz disappear behind it. A second later the large steel box successfully navigated the corner and rolled down the hallway as a canine in a security guard outfit stepped from the other side and greeted Skylar.

"So sorry for keeping you waiting," Diz said to Draggor as the demon had to hold back his surprise at the sudden appearance as the security guard turned to the kitsune and flashed his identification, complete with picture. "I'm the security liaison for this particular demon, I was just going to the restroom and this guy just wandered off. Thanks for finding him for me, I can take him from here."

Skylar took a glance at the security badge being presented to her before nodding and smiling once again. "Going to have to put a lead on that one," she joked. "I'll leave you two to it! Now... did I need six holders for all the chairs or five? Or was that table settings..."

It appeared that once more the kitsune had gone back into her own little world and the two looked at one another before nearly falling back against the wall. "That was too close," Draggor said as he took a second to catch his breath. "You have to teach me how you do that."

"Secret of the trade my friend," Diz replied with a wink. "Now let's get you to the server room so that you can legitimize this disguise, at least before she tells anyone about us."

Draggor nodded and the two moved to the server room door as quickly as they could without looking suspicious. Using his identification card Draggor waited for the door to open, keeping the dog out of line of sight since he didn't have his previous disguise on anymore. While it was a bit riskier to sneak in he hoped that the presence of a security guard wasn't too suspicious, especially with the information given to them by the kitsune. To their relief the door buzzed and allowed them access, the two sliding inside.

The first thing that hit them was the cold, the two were practically shivering as their breath clung to their muzzles as they tried not to shiver. As they held their arms to their chests to keep in the warmth as they walked down the rows of flashing lights that made up the server. They walked to the back of the room where a steel security door separated the smaller area from the rest, Draggor looking through the glass walls to the smaller block of servers while Diz used his credentials to get through. This time instead of a camera granting him access he had to use a facial recognition scanner, which he stood in front of as best he could without trembling.

"So I take it that's your real face then?" Draggor asked through his chattering teeth as they walked into the other room, finding it just as cold as the one they left.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Diz chuckled as he watched the demon take out a small computer that he had in his pocket to link to the server. "So you're just going to hack in so you can keep tabs on everything?"

Draggor smirked as he typed in the commands to his keyboard, trying not to slip from his shivering fingers as the code flashed through the screen. "It's not quite as easy as they portray it in the movies," the demon explained while he waited for the download. "What I'm doing right now is essentially giving myself administrative access to their systems while a second program of mine helps scrub the trail that leads up to it. If it works then I should be able to log into their systems at any time, if not... well, at least we can say we tried."

Diz just shook his head and waited there for the demon to finish up, and once Draggor had announced he was done they scrambled to get out of the freezing chamber as fast as possible. The two had to take a minute after they left the server room in order to get the feeling back in their fingers and toes. With the set-up complete they left through one of the exit doors, which was much easier given that they didn't need to scan or swipe anything, and walked as nonchalantly as they could away from the casino. The second they were far enough away they double-backed the parking lot where Xander was already waiting for them, the three hurriedly putting the discarded disguises back in the trunk before driving off back into the desert.