Mike and Sam Go Shopping

A boat of medium proportions was docked at a small harbor, in Naples, Florida. A man emerged from the hull and climbed onto the dock, checking his phone as he did so. He had yet to receive a text telling him where to go once he was at the dock; a minor inconvenience. Until said text would arrive, the man was content to just walk around and wait.

Samuel sat down on a stool at an outside Bar and Grill, and turned to the rather attractive female sitting beside him. She had skin of such a color that suggested she was from one of the various Central American countries, or possibly northern South America, with sleek dark hair. Sam ordered a margarita while he waited for Mike, and addressed the woman. “So, come here often?”. The woman turned and appraised him, grinning at the sight of his shirt . “Yeah, my boyfriend owns the place,” she said, nodding towards the man standing behind the counter. Samuel’s face fell a little, but he shrugged it off; you couldn’t win every one.

As he sat drinking the rather fruity alcoholic drink, a thought occurred to him, so he shot off a quick text to Mike: “Wait, I never gave you my number. How did you get it?”. It wasn’t really a pressing matter, but still rather intriguing. Slightly creepy as well.

Michael had requisitioned a suitable flight, in the form of an airplane that was owned by a certain businessman of reputable practice that did not want his darker secrets revealed, and Michael was known for his craftiness. He knew that his latest, and perhaps most useful pawn would be waiting, though the male was considering if he would simply be a pawn or something of higher value. Not that pawns weren’t useful within their own rights, as without pawns the greater pieces would have no way to move towards victory.  The male sipped ever so lightly on a small glass of dark purple wine, tart taste tantalizing his tongue as he watched the white clouds float on by him, enjoying the height somewhat. Of course he would touch down within an hour and that was when the real fun began, so long as he found the blond.

As soon as the plane touched down, Michael was already in motion, gathering his luggage and walking down the small ramp, humming pleasantly to himself as he did so. The male was dressed simply, in a light pink polo shirt and khaki colored cargo shorts, which were both breezy and comfortable. While not one that many would take seriously, Michael was what one would call a dangerous enough individual. The sun beat down upon him as he walked through the florida city, having already picked out himself a small hotel and placed the luggage there, though he was likely to have to board someone else there; even if there was only one bed in the room. Mike had no intentions of sleeping, considering that he did not need to and so there would be no problem there.  

This all being of course if they avoided dying on this venture, and Samuel did not already have a place to keep himself. With all of the preliminary work done, Michael checked his phone and found two texts, one from his dad an another from a certain metahuman. First he would check out the one from Sean and then the one from Samuel, though he had a feeling what it was.

Hey, where is mai backscratcher?~~ Dragon Daddy
On my nightstand.”
Thx mike!

With a roll of his eyes, he took in the small bar and grill where he was to be meeting the male known as Odien, walking towards the metahuman and silently taking a seat beside him. ”A man can’t  divulge all of his secrets now can he?” Michael asked with a small smirk, looking to Samuel as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. Mischievous silver eyes flecked with the neon green would look over the male curiously, as if wondering what question he would ask next.

A voice came unexpectedly from beside him. Samuel jumped slightly, and swore under his breath, as he whirled around to face Mike. “You really shouldn’t do that to people. If it hadn’t been your attractive voice I heard, I would have stabbed you already.” .Indeed, Sam had reached down and grabbed for his knife at first, only releasing when he had recognized the voice. He shot Mike a quick grin, before actually answering the question. “Well, there are a few secrets that need to be kept, but when they regard someone stalking me I’d rather they be answered.”

After a few heartbeats, he replied to his own statement, “Actually, I’d rather you kept that to yourself. The air of mystery works for you.” He appraised Mike before asking the question that needed to be asked “Have you ever seen the rain? “So, where exactly do we do this? If you don’t have a place in mind, then we can head back to my, um, house.” . With the last part, he motioned towards his boat, somewhat nervous to see how Mike would react to his living on a boat, albeit a nice boat.

An elderly woman was sitting by herself at a nearby table. Apparently she had been listening to their conversation, because she remarked “Young man, I know you people have your rights now and whatnot, but that still doesn’t excuse this sort of behavior. Prostitution is illegal, you know.” . Sam was appalled, both by the assumption that he was paying for sex and that he and Mike were together. Not that Mike wasn’t attractive enough, he just hadn’t thought about him “that way”.

With a slight glare at the woman, Samuel reached over and grabbed Michael, forcibly kissing him on the lips. Releasing Mike, he turned to the old woman and remarked “I can do whatever I want with my partner, thank you very much.” . Standing up, he began to walk away, presumably with Mike behind him to wherever he needed to go. Once they were out of earshot of the (now flabbergasted) woman, Odien turned to face his partner in crime. “Sorry about that back there, that lady was beginning to piss me off,”.

His reaction was more than enough of an indication that the male was surprise by Michael’s sudden appearance, and the slight swearing under his breath showed that as well. A low snicker issued from Michael as his eyes looked over the male, following muscle movements and making note of the fact that he had been reaching for something; likely a stabbing utensil if what he said was correct. The thought of his voice being attractive would have been enough to make him blush if he did not consider what the male was saying a complete joke, one that he laughed lightly to himself about. Of course the male could have asked about how Michael got his number, but he would have gotten not much as far as an answer was concerned.

”That’s me. Michael the ever mysterious.” He noted with a joking air, rolling his eyes playfully as he took in the coastal air. Something about it reminded him of the isles, and within him was a sort of homesickness that reared its ugly head. He found the wording of the next sentence to be rather off, but then again Mike understood what he was saying well enough, even if the wrinkled prune of a woman did not. She said something and then noted another thing about prostitution, as if Michael were some manner of prostitute. The idea that one would pay to sleep with him was flattering, but he had enough self respect.

With no room to react, Michael was pulled into a kiss, his body going through the strangest of feelings. His heart fluttered like a bird, and he could feel a small amount of color reach his cheeks, as well as other reactions. Everything had moved to fast and already they were moving, Michael somewhat breathless at the sudden show of affection. ”I…the kiss was a little much.” Michael noted rubbing his lips as he tried to control the color that was still present. Such carnal things were unknown to him and….he felt like there was some tongue involved. ”That aside, yes I think your home will work fine for discussing our business.”

Samuel raised his eyebrows; was Mike blushing? That was a little unexpected, mostly because (a) the kiss was meant simply to piss the woman off (not that Odien hadn’t enjoyed it, just a little bit) and (b) Mike didn’t really seem like the kind of guy to blush, for any reason. In an apologetic tone, Sam said “Listen dude, if it bothered you I’m sorry. I won’t do it again...unless you tempt me,” giving a flirtatious wink, in a joking manner. As they headed over to Sam’s boat, he realized he had left his phone back at the counter. He jogged back over, though it was only forty feet or so, and picked it up. The man behind the counter, whose girlfriend Samuel has previously hit on, gave him a high-five, and a declaration of his approval for what Sam had done. “I usually don’t care either way on the whole LGBT thing, but that was pretty cool. Next time you stop by, drinks are on me.” . Sam thanked the man, and assured him that he would take him up on his offer. Unfortunately for him, Samuel could drink, a lot.

Returning to where Mike was standing, the Best Meatshield led the way to his boat, before climbing aboard. For a moment he considered offering Mike his hand to assist him in doing likewise, then decided against it, after the slight display earlier.  As he went below deck to his living quarters, he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, slightly self conscious about his living situation. Not that he had a problem living on a boat, he actually enjoyed it very much, however some people seemed to find it very odd. He hoped Mike wouldn’t be such a person.

The boat was in immaculate condition, the result of almost OCD-like tendencies on Sam’s part. “She’s not much, but I like her,” he said. Pointing to a bench/couch like row against the wall, he said “Please, sit.” Taking a seat opposite of Mike, he opened up the discussion for why they were here. “Now, what exactly did you have planned for today, and what do I need to do?”

It was times like this that Michael did not like being so uninitiated in such things, and considering that he was not the type to blush, this only felt worst. Perhaps the fact that the male had noticed the blushing only added insult to injury or something like that, Michael chewing on his lower lip as he mentally cursed. ”I’ll have to keep that in mind then.” Michael noted with a small sly smirk, trying to keep at least some of his shredded dignity intact. The possibility of that working however was slim to none, and he had come to accept it. It was within their trek to the boat that Samuel apparently called home that the blond paused, and then turned around, as if he had forgotten something, leaving Mike to stand there mentally stewing over…things.

He turned around to watch the male, mostly curious of what he was doing, though that consisted of high fiving some guy at the small bar thing; exchanging words and then returning to him. With whatever that was done, Samuel would lead Michael onto the boat and that was where he could begin the debriefing. Both would walk below deck where the living quarters were located, Michael’s mind instantly making an impression of the pace in a matter of seconds. With a mind that surpassed a supercomputer he considered everything, silently nodding in approval of the place with a small smirk as the earlier awkwardness found itself obliterated.

Accepting the seat offered to him by Samuel, they could get down to business, which was what one would call a high profile job. ”Alright, I say it’s time we get down to business.” With a folding of his hands, Michael looked to Samuel waiting to see if he would take a second, going on regardless. ”Aside from simple bank robberies, I do various things. Heists, assassinations and things of that nature, however my primaries are the jobs that involve stealing; so heists. This job will involve stealing a statue that apparently someone will pay a hefty price to have, or so my sources say. From what I hear the job will pay out handsomely, around 500,000 for this….um statue.” He explained licking his lips lightly. ”As for the where, I suppose we would be doing a little home invasion.”

Samuel stared at Michael without speaking for a few moments, before leaning back and closing his eyes. For a few moments more he was silent, as he contemplated the assignment that would be his, if he chose to accept it. $500,000 was a substantial sum of money, even when being split between two people, and yet...

First on the list of potential issues with this case was that there was most likely something peculiar about this particular statue. Sam had watched Mike move at superhuman speeds, turn two people into otherworldly beings, and wield a gun that fired blasts composed of some potent energy (the twin of which he Samuel still possessed, having forgotten to give it back to Michael). The Ethereal did not seem like the person who would be hired to steal a mundane statue.

Secondly, the statue was supposedly worth half of a million dollars to someone. The person they would be stealing it for would not be the issue here, however, rather it would be the person they would be stealing from. The kind of person to have a five hundred thousand dollar statue in their home was not the kind of person likely to have minimal security, so there was no telling what degree of difficulty they would face in this “heist”.

While not a coward, neither was Samuel an idiot. The job sounded promising, but if it was beyond his skill level to assist Michael in this, then he would not take it. “I assume you have a plan for doing this?” he asked, opening his eyes after the few seconds these thoughts had taken. Reaching under the table in front of him, he pulled out a lockbox and placed his thumb on the biometric scanner (in the past this would have been mostly unheard of, but in the present era it was not all that rare. Also, while Sam had few possessions, those that he did have were “top of the line” for his varied income”).

When the box opened, he pulled out the white pistol that Michael had given him before. After the uneven split of their money, he had not thought to return it, and as Mike hadn’t asked for it it had gone unforgotten. With the barrel pointed downwards, he handed it over to the male opposite of him. “I believe you may want this back.”

A few moments of silence passed between the two, Michael watching Samuel closely as he seemed to consider the deal placed before him carefully, or he simply did so for dramatic effect. Michael himself did not see this whole thing going very well, but then again it was a considerable amount of money, plus the fact that he had nothing better to do. Stealing things from various people for various sums of money was now sort of a hobby of his, though likely with the sum offered to them, there would be some major security to get around.

If someone would have to pay someone like him that much for a simple statue, then it must have been more than was let on, likely some manner of magic statue that did things they were not told of. Whatever the reason for such veiled information was, Michael would always have a plan for such a thing, even if it were only the bare skeleton of a master plan. He would of course wait for the metahuman to ask about a plan before he would speak of one, and as if reading his mind the male did ask.

”I always have a plan.” As cool and calm as he always was, reclining on the couch and crossing hands behind his back. He whistled low as Samuel removed a lockbox from beneath a table and produced something from it, his gun to be exact. He noticed that he was missing the weapon, but he would have retrieved it from the male at a later time, though now it seemed that he would not have to worry about that. ”Keep it for now. We may or may not need it for this job. You can give it back when we’re done.” He explained tapping his foot lightly against the floor.

”As for the plan, I’ve been looking over plans of the house that I…ascertained and it seemed that there are multiple secret entrances that we can take advantage of to side step a lot of home security. So it should all be a matter of finding what we’re looking for once we get in”

Samuel replaced the gun in his hip holster with the admittedly superior Ethereal weapon. He glanced around the interior of his boat for a few seconds; two hundred and fifty thousand dollars could go a long ways, if used properly. “I believe everyone always has a plan, even if it is to act randomly. The question is whether or not the plan is a good one or not,” he mused aloud. Finishing his examination of his own residence, Samuel turned back to Mike. “Luckily, in this case it seems to be a fairly sound plan. I’m in, assuming you haven’t decided to replace me with the kind old lady out there. I believe she would be likewise qualified for the job.”

In the span of a few seconds, he made sure that he would be ready for the upcoming heist. His phone he turned off and placed inside of the lock box; there would be no point in taking it with him. Odien already had the pistol in the holster and the single knife with him, though he strapped another to his inner calf, rolling the leg on his jeans back down. One could never be too careful about this sort of thing.

Standing up, he brushed off the nonexistent dust from his pants. “So, one more question: when and where?” After a few seconds pause, he added “And one deal breaker: if there are any blond fairies this time, I’m out,”.

The male replaced his inferior weapon with the superior one that Michael was letting him borrow for the time being, until he found himself in greater need of it than the regenerating male. Considering that he did not foresee a time like that on this little job, then the male would get to walk around with such firepower until they had the money firmly in hand. ”Replace you with the old lady? Puhlease, if I wanted a master of breaking their own hip I would have but I doubt life alert would have been any help to us or her.” Michael joked lightly with a smirk as he buried his hands into his pockets, considering his plan multiple times over, rolling his eyes before nodding.

While Odien did whatever he did to prepare for the heist, Michael did only one thing, which was turning off his cellphone, before his father could annoy him with anymore text messages; not that he didn’t love him to death or anything. ”The heist will start tonight and the where…Thames manor or something like that.” He had researched that the security of the place was not amazing, so sneaking in there and sneaking out should have been easy enough, even if they had to bash a few skulls in the process.

”As for blond faeries, unless you count myself I doubt there are going to be any faeries.” He noted jokingly, of course not expecting any of the fae as much as he was last time. ”So I would say we meet at this address around eight?” Michael said withdrawing a small slip of paper and handing it to Samuel with a smirk before making his way from the boat and to his hotel at inhuman speeds, weaving through alleyways and things of that nature. What he chose to get from his hotel room was a simple looking rune caved into a bit of bone and something else, slipped both into his pockets and then leaving, waiting until the time and then standing infront of the designated location, which was a homely little café around half a mile from their location.

Samuel gave a slight twitch of his lips at the joke, though he was sure if he were an old lady he would most likely not find it humorous. That name...Thames. The main thing that came to mind was the river, but it also sounded slightly familiar as a surname. Weren’t there a few retired baseball players named Thames? He hoped it wasn’t one of their houses they were breaking into. That would be like desecrating a national monument, as baseball is America’s pastime, after all.

For the rest of the time, until eight, Sam walked around the area, taking in the local sights. Little of what he saw interested him, though there was a nice looking pizza joint that he made not of, to visit later. With around thirty minutes until he was to meet Michael, he set off toward the location provided by his paper.

His face was bare, though he had briefly considered purchasing a mask to match his shirt, that of a comical Tyrannosaurus Rex head. While some would call this an act of sheer folly, some others might wonder if this was intentional, almost as if he wanted to be seen, and known. Little good could result from this, but then again one must first be able to understand the inner workings of Odien’s mind, something few could, save those who had become close to him-alive today, there were two such people, and neither were on the same continent as he at this time.

Upon arrival at the given location, he saw that it was a place not unlike that where Sam and Mike had first met. Most likely coincidence, though one might wonder if the Ethereal had done this on purpose. Glancing at his watch, he realized he had a little over ten minutes left before eight o’clock. Going inside, Samuel purchased a small cup of coffee and slowly drained it as the seconds on the clock ticked by.

Finally 20:00 arrived and Sam saw Michael arrive through the window. He stood up and approached the door, stopping in his tracks as a somewhat unfamiliar sensation struck him; pain. The tip of his left ring finger was filled with a burning sensation, almost as if someone had boiled the blood in that one specific area. Knuckles white from gripping the chair, he stopped and waited a few seconds for the pain to pass. When it did, he exited the cafe and walked up to Michael. “Shall we do this?”.

Michael arrived at the café around two minutes or so before the designated meeting time, never the one to be too early and never the one to be fashionably late, as the concept itself was an idiotic one to him at any rate. A light mist of rain was beginning to fall outside, dampening his hair and clothing with a thin veil of moisture, but nothing that would really annoy the male, who quickly took notice of Odien and smirked. Buying himself a small cup of coffee heavily diluted with cream and sugar Michael would stand next to the male and wait until he spoke before doing so himself.

”We shall.” Michael answered with a smirk as he took a sip of his caffeinated drink, releasing a contented sigh as he watched the light mist fall down upon the city. While he was not one to hate the rain, something about this fall seemed inopportune, not that it would really hinder their job by any means. All they needed to do was break into a mansion, and then proceed to rob it of a certain statue, as well as something else that Michael had in mind, but he would not worry Samuel with such unimportant extras.

Finishing off his cup of coffee, the male would then lead the other away from the café and away from the rather sweet smelling air of brewing coffee. Where they ended up was a small graveyard, perhaps a personal one to the family or something like that, as it contained a few rather ornate headstones and one large looking mausoleum. That was where the entrance would take them, if Samuel had no problem with the possibility of incurring the wrath of the dead, or some strange moral compass. Wrapping fingers around the now rusted handle, Michael would pull with all of his force until it gave out a great groan and then proceeded to open.

”And now he venture into the crypt.” Michael noted removing a small crystal that was a bright blue in color, flicking it as it would blink a blue color and then float into the air, cating a small light along the darkness of the crypt. With that done Michael would begin to feel over the wall until he found something, a small handle that he pulled and the wall seemed to slide away; revealing a small tunnel. The tunnel itself was earthy, ancient from disuse and cobwebs were strewn along the interior, as well as a few bugs would scuttle away from the light, Mike stepping into it. ”Alright, this will be our way in and out of the…heist location.”

Sam was...slightly nervous, to say the least. Normal robberies wouldn’t bother him, and neither would a stroll through a graveyard, but Samuel had a small problem with tight spaces, and he didn’t care too much for the idea of breaking into some rich person’s house through a Mausoleum. Regardless, he followed Mike through the tunnel, though his breathing was far shallower and faster than it had been outside. They walked along with the blue light for around a minute and a half, the slope of the tunnel gradually increasing as they did so, before turning into a steep incline the last fifteen yards or so.

A small wooden door was located above their heads, with a dozen or so steel bolts, along with a single sliding bolt, that looked rusty and stiff from disuse. Sam reached out and gave it a small pull; it came undone, with a little difficulty. Lowering his eyes around a foot to look at Michael, he asked in a whisper “So, I assume this is the place; are we ready?”.

The two would emerged within a few minutes from the tunnel that lead them into the place that they would be robbing. Upon entering the home, Michael would turn to the floating sphere of light and consider it, then making his way for the trap door. The door that would lead them into the home was bolted, but Michael found it easy enough to open and pull himself into the closet that it lead into. The room was lit by dim blue light, making his pale skin appear strangely, arms crossing over his chest as he turned to Samuel. ”Yeah, this seems to be the place.” he would whisper in return, slowly opening the door of the closet and looking through the crack within the door, as if making sure that no one was walking through the hallways.

The sound of footsteps could not be heard, and considering his preternatural senses that meant that they were not being looked over yet. Yet he could hear something, am ominous footstep that resounding within his own ears, a low thrumming sound that caused Mike’s heartbeat to speed up as he blinked a couple of times curiously. An aura that was immensely familiar would raise for a moment and then go silent, a small amount of rage forming within him and staying there. He turned to Samuel and it appeared that he did not hear the sound, which was strange considering that he had…unless he was going insane. ”We’re ready to get this thing started.” Michael said with a voice that was slightly shaking as he wiped away an invisible bead of sweat and turned off the glowing stone,  and slowly emerging from the door.

Samuel noticed the slightly apprehensive air that surrounded Michael as they illegally entered  the household. He would have commented on it in any normal situation, but given that Odien himself was quite shaky, there was no room for him to judge, nor any consolation could he give, were it to be needed of him. His eyes adjusted to the absence of the blue glow from Michael’s light, and he stepped forward, out after the Ethereal male.

“Well,” he whispered on a level only Mike would be able to hear, “It appears you came out of the closet before I did. Damn it Michael, why do you always have to beat me?”. It was entirely a joke, albeit a poor one, and was intended to alleviate some of  the tension, that had taken upon an almost palpable quality. Odien didn’t really expect it to work; it would be near miraculous if it did.

As his father had taught him to do when he was young and crossing a street, he glanced first to the left down the hall, then the right, and finally back to the left again. After this somewhat cursory examination of their surroundings (All he found worthy of note was that the people here were obviously wealthy, as the wood appeared to be of a fine make, and the paintings on the wall could each have sold for several times what money Samuel had), he looked down at Mike and raised an eyebrow, wondering which way they were to go.