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Alkali had enough of the waiting and with the fireworks show over he hoped that he could now leave the skybox without being accused of anything. He assumed that their objective was to keep them here for the duration of the concert to put him out of play, and since the fireworks were keeping most people inside and at their seats he had an opportunity to slip away without being noticed as he turned on his phone and put in his ear piece. "Alright, I'm heading back to the casino now," the ferret informed Draggor once their call connected. "Security is going to be watching me still so I have to keep a low profile and try to get to Uncle Kage's party."

"Hey, you!" a voice said suddenly, Alkali whipping his head around to see an avian in a security guard uniform. "Miko told me to get you as soon as you stepped foot out outside the skybox. I have strict orders to accompany you wherever you go."

"I see," Alkali said as a small grin formed on his muzzle. "So you're saying that he told you to watch me like a... you?"

The hawk rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, never heard that one before," he said before gesturing to the atrium of the convention center. "You better not cause me any trouble... or do I have to take you to Miko's office instead?"

The ferret just put up his hands and was led through the promenade back towards the casino, casually taking out the earpiece and putting it back into his pocket while also hanging up the phone. As he passed by the courtyard where Ronnie and Zen had set up their fireworks display Alkali saw the eastern dragon look up and see him, Alkali giving him a small nod before continuing on. Just as Ronnie was about to get on the comms and tell Draggor what he saw he heard someone shouting and turned to see two casino security guards making their way towards him. They did not look happy and as they continued to rush him he looked from them down to the control board.

"Well..." Ronnie said as he began to frantically push up all the remaining switches at once. "Time for the finale!" The lights on the board all immediately went from red to green as the entire area was showered in sparks from all the remaining fireworks lighting off at once, causing the security guards to stop and cower from all the flashes. When they were able to look up again they saw that the eastern dragon was gone along with the control board.

"What in the world are you guys doing?!" the voice of Poker shouted as he came up to the guards. "Did you guys cause all this to happen? This is Uncle Kage's fireworks show!"

"We were told to come out here and apprehend the one operating the fireworks," one of the guards said with a shrug. "Came from the mouse himself, said he didn't authorize any fireworks show..."

"Are you kidding?" the black wolf said as he went over to one of the fireworks platforms and hopped up on it. "This is clearly the work of a professional! Well I'd bet my life that-"

Poker was suddenly interrupted as the stage underneath him exploded in a fireball, the guards falling backwards as they were knocked off their feet by the blast. Several windows also shattered around them as they looked at the charred remains of the platform with the lupine nowhere to be found. The two looked at one another, then at the destruction around them before arguing on who was going to call it in.

"Sir," one of the security personnel finally said over his radio. "Looks like you were right, the guy doing the fireworks ran off after we tried to get him. Also one of the platforms exploded... along with your entertainment director."

"Of course they would run," Miko said from the security room as he put a hand on his face, shaking his head before looking up at the cameras to see the night sky light up like crazy from the sheer amount of shells being popped in the air. "Try to find them... though as soon as the crowds get out there's going to be little hope of tracking them. Just make sure to keep your eyes on the primary target and don't let him out of your sight, handcuff him to you if you have to, but I don't want that ferret leaving the premises... oh, and send Poker a get well card or something."

Before the other guard could say anything else Miko switched over the frequency on the radio and looked back down at the monitors he could see the cameras continuing to scour the casino floor for any sign of possible intruders, though so far their facial recognition cameras picked up nothing. With the crowds coming out of the concert the software would be working overtime, so they put up a few extra screens just to see if they could see the sabrewolf as well as continue to monitor Alkali. The mouse sat back and watched while slowly swirling the still untouched drink in his hand while his eyes flashed from the convention center footage to the party that was going on in the main hall. He knew that they were out there somewhere... but where?

"I got some more information for you, sir," Nbowa said as he walked past Miko and went over to one of the security monitoring stations, punching something into the computer that caused the main screen to turn black for a second before showing footage of the main lobby. "I went back to see if we could find any more of Alkali's accomplices and I found this. Now the ferret was smart and booked a room on one of our floors that don't have cameras in the halls; however, I did find this on the day that he checked in."

All the eyes in the security room were glued to the monitor as they watched the ferret check in, though most people were looking at the demon that stood next to him. "So there was a third party involved," Miko mused as he watched them walk to the elevator. "I don't suppose he's still in the casino? Perhaps maybe in Alkali's room?"

"It shows that he left early this morning with a few bags," the lion replied, punching up another timecode and showing the facial recognition software recognizing the demon's face as he left. "We don't have an identification on him yet, but even if we do it looks like he's skipping town. Perhaps they called the whole thing off, boss, maybe they figured since you were onto them that they were going to abort the whole thing."

"And not try to avoid years of jail time?" Miko exclaimed with a laugh. "I doubt it, especially since the ferret is still here. If they were calling the whole thing off then he would have left the second he could, not stayed around here enjoying my skybox. No... I think that they're in too deep to pull out now."

Several of the others in the room, including Nbowa, couldn't help but snicker and when Miko asked what was so funny several actually started to laugh while others looked away and held their muzzles. When Nbowa leaned in and explained the mouse just rolled his eyes and told them to keep watching. The levity was short-lived and soon everyone was back to watching their respective stations as Miko oversaw. An anxiousness began to grow in the room as several exchanged whispered theories of what was about to happen, everyone waiting to see if their boss was right.

It turned out they didn't have to wait too long as a white tiger stood up suddenly and announced that the alarm that they had recently installed in the vault door went off. "He's already there?" Nbowa asked in surprise as the two felines huddled around the same computer screen. "How did he get past the guards in the upper hallway or the scanners, not to mention the elevator itself..."

"Who cares!" Miko barked as he stood up in the chair. "Put it on the main screen right now!" Nbowa and the other camera operator quickly got the feed up to the monitor in the middle of the wall, several people gasping as they watched the draconic sabrewolf opening the vault door and moving inside.

"He just activated the pressure sensors," Nbowa relayed as everyone watched. "Definitely down there boss, what do you want to do?"

"Tell the strike team that they're clear to go," Miko said as he rubbed his hands together. "We got them now..."

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

A few minutes earlier Serathin sighed as he pulled the last of rappel darts on the face of the walls out, putting them back in the bag along with everything else that he had gathered. "Are you really, really sure that I have to do this?" the hybrid asked as he looked back at the wall. "I just got through the security grid on the last time I went here."

"Draggor says that he needs you to go from the time you enter from the elevator shaft," Zen replied after the few seconds of delay. "If you don't then he would have to splice the footage together and Miko is probably looking for something like that. It's got to be all one shot."

"Great," Serathin replied, looking at the wall where the security sensors were. "Actually..." he mused as he rubbed a finger along his teeth before staring back up at the camera. "How hard do you think they're going to look into the initial break-in?"

Serathin waited for a few moments before Zen's voice once more reverberated through the wall. "Draggor says that as long as they don't launch into a full investigation they probably will only give it a cursory look." the fox replied. "Why, what do you have in mind?"

The hybrid didn't respond, just reached into his bag and pulled out a large spray can and gave it a few shakes. Once he had thoroughly mixed the contents he began to spray along both sides of the wall, the clear liquid settling on the wall before quickly evaporating. He did this through the entire length of the hall, making sure to coat every inch before moving forward. Once he was on the other side he put the canister back and gave a walk back and forth through the trapped hallway.

"Draggor is asking what you did." Zen relayed as Serathin pushed open the elevator doors once more. "Also why you didn't just do that in the first place."

"Sensors are actually extremely easy to fool once you know how they work," Serathin replied while he continued to open the door. "This is a polymer that tricks them into thinking they can still see things out in the hallway when in reality their view is now limited to the pinholes that they were looking out of. Also I would have done it in the first place, but we wanted to make it look like the entry was the hole we were going to blow into the vault, so I didn't want to leave anything behind that might give them any ideas of how I actually got in, but now that we're doing this plan I don't have to worry about that anymore."

"Fair enough," Zen replied. "But won't you have to spray it again to show how you beat the sensors. Won't they realize how you actually did it?"

"Not really," Serathin replied with a grin as he hopped into the shaft before letting the doors close. "Luckily people greatly exaggerate what I do in the movies..."

Once Serathin had completely reset his heist he gave a few moments so that Draggor could get his end ready, then pulled open the doors once again. This time he knew that he would be recorded, the demon making sure of it, and though he was only being seen by him for the moment it still increased his anxiety. The hybrid preferred working as a ghost, it was the main reason he could still have his own identity that's not on every wanted poster from the FBI to Interpol. He was putting a lot of trust in Draggor that this wasn't about to be his retirement heist... at least not for the right reason as he pulled the doors open again.

"Alright," Serathin muttered to himself under the range of the microphones in the cameras as he put on the glasses he had previously used to put on to locate the sensors, only this time they were completely deactivated. "Time to put on a little show."

Back at the other hotel Draggor watched as the sabrewolf began to pantomime searching for the lasers in the security hallway, watching as the sync time between the live feed and his recorded one continued to grow larger. "This is Zen," the fox said from the tunnel next to the vault wall. "I've got the calibrated signal ready to go, the second that you tell me Serathin is in the vault we're ready to go."

"Sounds good," Draggor replied as he watched the hybrid start to step back towards the elevator again. "The delay I have on the footage should give both you and Serathin enough time to reset everything, although I don't know what-" the demon stopped dead in his tracks as he watched the draconic sabrewolf flare out his wings and then take a small running start before vaulting and flipping through the rest of the hallway and landing on his feet on the other side. "Dang..."

"What?" Zen asked. "Did something happen?"

"Just that he's at the vault door," Draggor informed the fox as he watched him once more crack open the boxes, looking at the watch on his wrist. "If he goes through the security measures at the same rate, minus jamming the door sensor, then your guy is going to be up in about twenty minutes. Do you think you can get there in time to help him?"

"Should be easy enough," Zen responded.

The demon watched as Serathin got through the door security measures a second time, this time planting a device on the electronics before opening the door. Almost immediately after the heavy steel device started to move sensors went off on Draggor's computer, his desynced program showing that the door alarm had just gone off. About a minute later the pressure sensors did as well as Serathin just walked inside and began to look around. This was when the clock really started and he told Zen to get ready.

Back in the vault Serathin went over to one of the security boxes and used an autopicker to pop the lock, opening the door and filling his pockets with the jewelry that was inside. "Just a dumb thief taking your stuff," the hybrid said under his breath as he moved over to the next one. "Don't even do my research to make sure the floor is safe to walk on, making my way through doors unchecked without a care in the world. If this is how most criminals think it's no wonder that they get caught..."

The sabrewolf continued to open a few more boxes just to make it look like his greed got the better of him before he glanced down at his watch and saw it was time. He made his way to the other side of the room as though he was going to go in on the cash next before he stopped and turned his head to the big golden cheese symbol on the wall. Even though he knew exactly how to open it he feigned having that knowledge and looked around it before finally revealing the safe within. Once more he had pantomime figuring out what was going on with the locking mechanism before opening it once more in the same manner, taking out the black box.

"Hold it right there!" Zen's voice echoed, nearly causing the sabrewolf to drop the box in surprise as he looked back at the hallway. Though it was empty Serathin half-expected to see someone standing there as he looked back towards the elevator. "Get down on the ground and put your hands behind your head! We're authorized to use lethal force!"

Serathin pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed the button on it, activating the door mechanism for it to close automatically. He tried to make himself look as panicked as possible as he took cover from his invisible assailants, then pulled the radio out of his pocket. "Hey Alkali, I'm in trouble here," Serathin said even though he knew the line was off.. "Get Zen to blow the vault now, we have to go!"

A few seconds later the entire vault and security hallway shook enough that Serathin had to grab onto one of the cash cages with his gloved hands to keep himself steady. The first thought was that the fox had actually blown a hole through the vault, which was precisely what it was supposed to simulate as the shaking came to a stop. Once the entire room stopped reverberating Serathin knew that the cameras were now down, the hybrid springing back to action. He took all the items that he had taken from the boxes and put them back exactly how they were, then locked them back up. It was a bizarre sensation cleaning up the vault for a second time as the hybrid went to the secondary vault and locked it once again.

Even though he knew the clock was ticking Serathin also made an sweep with a cloth on where he could, removing any trace of him from the icon, boxes, and cash bars before walking backwards and wiping up his footprints. Once he got to the vault door he opened it once more, his device keeping it from locking once again. The second that he was on the other side he once more engaged the locks and took off his chip before reassembling the scanners. After another wipedown of the security hallway he went back into the elevator and kicked out the brace, letting them shut behind him as he opened the bag he had stashed and opened it.

"Well, this is certainly going to be interesting..." Serathin said to himself as he looked at the hollow eyes of the mask before glancing down at the padded suit. "Probably should have listened to the quick change artist a little more."

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

"Well you have to admit," Nbowa said as he and Miko watched the previous footage of the thief flipping through the air before breaking into their vault. "He does have some moves, it's almost a shame that we have to bust him and hand him over to the Securities and Exchange guys."

"Perhaps they'll give you a chance to talk to him," Miko replied before turning to another guard next to him. "What is the strike team saying? Did they manage to open the vault yet?"

"We just got a communication from the team," a female alpaca said. "It appears that just before the vault closed completely they saw part of the wall burst outwards, and whether it was something that the sabrewolf did or the explosion, itself, their radios aren't working and the door mechanism won't open even with the master password you provided."

"Tell them to wait there and keep an eye on the vault until I get there," Miko instructed as he got up from his chair. "If they got to my vault to demo one of my walls it means they had to get there from some alternate point. I want you to go into every camera that surrounds this place and look for that sabrewolf, call up the municipal traffic system if you have to and have a team on standby so that we can get them."

The lion nodded and began to make phone calls while the mouse looked at the static that had replaced the feed, telling the security team to put the entire file on a tablet for him and to keep him updated. Then after looking up the location of one of his guards he went out and told Nbowa to keep him up to date. With the vault on lockdown and their perpetrators on the loose he knew that there was at least one person that he could pick up already. As he headed towards the party in the main hall, though, he was suddenly stopped as Pandez went up in front of him.

"Oh, perfect timing," the panda said as he held up a binder to him. "Now we've run out of appetizers for the party and Le Jacque got arrested again, so we're wondering if we can use any of the desserts from the previous party? We still have plenty of the cake but I wanted to add a few of the fruit smoothies to-"

"I don't care," Miko said as he tried to get around Pandez. "I'm very busy."

"I'm so sorry," Pandez replied as he stepped right as Miko stepped in his path, then did the same on the opposite side. "Oh man, stop dancing with me would you? I'm just kidding, let me just step to the side here and let you go-"

The mouse bumped Pandez into the side wall and continued down the hallway, the panda waiting for a few seconds before he pulled out his phone that had been on. "Got a mouse comin' your way," he said as he started back. "You were right, he's got it in his left pocket."

"Thanks Pandez," Draggor said as he finished typing another message into the security board. He had already intercepted the one that called the guards that had been on hold, then once he saw who he had gotten for the job hacked into their accounts and replied that the vault was broken. After that he wrote one last security memo and sent it off he turned his attention back to the cameras, one in particular that had a husky with a cane tapping his way between the slot machines...

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

The casino floor was busier than ever now, people who had been at the concert not stopping in to try their hand at the games inside. As a husky continued to move he was guided by the voice of the demon in his earpiece. He had originally been near the party to make sure that Miko wasn't there but his task had changed, now he was trying to find someone in particular. Finally after weaving his way through several slot banks Citrine was told that he was finally within range of his target.

"Excuse me, sir," Citrine said as he tapped the dragon security guard that rushed past him, causing him to stop in his tracks and turn. "I have a bit of an emergency. Could you help me find the restrooms? This place is a bit hard to navigate for someone in my condition, if you could just lead me there..."

"I'm sorry but I'm very busy right now," the guard said, at first in an angry tone before he saw who he was talking with. "I mean, if you follow the perimeter wall you'll eventually get there. I have somewhere I really need to be."

Just as the guard was about to walk away once more Citrine gave him another tap with the cane, this time in front of him causing him to trip over. "Oh no, did you fall?" Citrine asked as the dragon grumbled from the floor. "Sorry, sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing with this thing... if you let me know where you are I can certainly help you up."

"Here, let me do that," Zen said as he came up and helped the guard to his feet. The fox had raced over to the casino after he cemented the entrance of the tunnel he had used and reinstalled the wall of the walk-in cooler. Even though he had changed he still smelled of dirt that he tried to hide with the strongest cologne he could find, but at the moment he was hoping that the dragon wouldn't notice as he grabbed him around the waist and hefted him up to his feet.

"Is he okay?" Citrine asked.

"Looks like no harm done," Zen replied as he brushed off the guard's uniform. "You really should be more careful, you could have taken him down with you when you tripped over his cane. Do you need me to come with you and fill out an incident report?"

"No one needs to fill out an incident report!" the dragon said, pushing the fox away in slight anger before regaining his composure. "Look... if you could just help him find the bathroom or someone else I would appreciate it, I have urgent matters to attend to."

Both the fox and husky tried to say something else when the dragon stormed off, not giving them a chance to say anything else. "I don't suppose he's still there and just really quiet," Citrine asked, Zen shaking his head and telling him that he's gone. "Well that didn't go as planned, but did we at least point him in the right direction?"

"That we did," Zen said as he sent a text asking if they wouldn't mind getting kicked out of a casino while watching the draconic guard making his way through the tables. "Hopefully the others don't mind getting a little rough to help-" there was a sudden commotion as one of the huscoons got up and knocked his chair back, pointing at another and accusing him of cheating before barreling into him and toppling over the guard as well. "Well, there's the answer to that question..."

"Sounds like we got ourselves a distraction," Citrine said as Zen watched the other three getting in on it, one of them hopping up on a table before powerbombing the dragon security guard that was still on the floor. "Did you get what you needed from the guard?"

Zen nodded and with a smirk held up the security badge of the dragon, then quickly put it away as he helped lead Citrine away from where more security were coming to break up the brawl. They made their way up to the main hall where they saw Uncle Kage's party going full force and it appeared their distraction had the added benefit of taking the bouncers away from the doors. With no Xander there to sneak through the kitchens they had to go through the party itself, luckily Zen's remaining off the radar of the security meant he could actually walk in and not face the wrath of Miko. It turned out to be their saving grace as they moved around one of the tables and saw the owner of the casino not more than a few feet away from them.

"Alkali Bismuth..." Miko said, the ferret looking directly down at him as the hawk that had escorted him before was also accompanied by another that stood there with his arms crossed. "I think it's time that you and I sat down and had a little chat on what you're really doing here. If you come with me quietly I'll make sure that you don't get too embarrassed in front of all these nice people."

"I say..." Uncle Kage said as he came storming up to the two. "Miko, I appreciate your hospitality here, but I don't think that a good host comes to badger their guests. Now unless you wish to speak to him civilly, I suggest you leave and let everyone enjoy themselves."

"I don't think so, cockroach," Miko replied, causing a litany of gasps to come from those within earshot. "Mr. Bismuth will be detained by my security until the Securities and Exchange Commission Agents come here and take over."

"Well this doesn't look like you were serious about that apology," Alkali replied with his hands on his hips. "Just what am I being charged with, anyway? Having a good time at your casino?"

"Grand theft," Miko replied, another round of shocked gasping coming from the growing crowd. "Espionage, treason, insider trading... I'm sure that the SEC will give us the full list after they find out what you've done. Now since the option of doing this, as Uncle Kage says, civilly is out the window, why don't you go ahead and cuff Mr. Bismuth and bring him down to our holding cell?"

Before Alkali could say anything else the hawk went up to him and put his hands behind his back and handcuffed them together. "But Mark, think of all the good times we had!" Alkali said to the security guard. "I still have so many bird-related jokes that I haven't even shared with you yet! You can't cage me! Go ahead and torture me, I won't sing! "Free bird!"

"I don't think you'll find your situation so funny in a few minutes!" Miko called out as the hawk guard rolled his eyes while escorting him out. "Not only am I going to put you in jail, but all your accomplices as well! No one attempts to steal from Miko Maus and gets away with it!"

Zen and Citrine continued to lay low as they waited for the mouse to leave with the other guard. As soon as the ferret was out of sight the party began to resume, though the conversation on many of those in attendance had certainly changed. Both fox and husky used the distraction to make their way over to the hidden vent, Zen grabbing one of the empty ropes and hoisting it up before attaching the clearance card to it. Once it was secured he took the other rope and pocketed it, then secured the cover as thoroughly as he could.

"So I have a question," Citrine said while they waited for the coast to be clear. "Was Alkali getting arrested part of the plan, or a sign that it's all gone off the rails?"

"I don't know," Zen replied as he sighed and rubbed his green-tinted headfur. "This might be a bit of both. In any case our work here is done, let's go make sure that the huscoons don't end up in prison."