Work Text:
Chapter 1
Roman Reigns sauntered around the dimly lit museum with his arms crossed behind his back, scowling. He hated working night shifts and he hated the fact that he had to work tonight. It’s not that he mind filling in for someone who was sick. What he did mind, however, was the fact that his manager thought that Roman should be informed of this two hours before.
Paul could be a total bastard when he wanted to be, Roman thought. He knew that Roman had transportation issues, but did he care? Of course not. His only concern was that his commands were fulfilled, no ifs or buts.
As he circled around the spacious room, the hollow sounds of his boots were the only sounds that reached his ears, for now at least. He glanced over to the tall display case that he was safeguarding. Inside it sat a diamond necklace, sparkling ever so brilliantly. The skylight allowed the moonlight to shine through like a spotlight, letting this elegant piece of jewelry to take centre stage.
And taking the centre stage it did, but tonight it only attracted an audience of one.
Of course Roman was aware of The Hope Diamond’s existence, but he never took the time to look at it, let alone appreciate the beauty of it, which was what he was doing now. Perhaps he was too immersed in ensuring that the antiques in this museum were protected at all times. He was a security guard after all.
The tall Samoan man went closer to the display case to look at it. He noticed that it consisted of four rows of tiny white diamonds; with a large turquoise diamond in the middle. The larger diamond in the centre was also bordered by tiny beads of white diamonds. If he remembered correctly, it was designed by Michel DuBois, a famous French jewelry designer around the late 1950’s and it was one of last few diamonds he designed before he died. It was originally called some French name that was hard to pronounce (Roman was terrible at speaking French), but then it eventually translated to “The Diamond of Hope” which had changed to its current title, that was The Hope Diamond.
Nowadays, The Hope Diamond was often surrounded by the hordes of visitors every week. Maybe that was another reason why Roman had never paid attention to it, too. He had to make sure no one got too close to the glass display and to look out for anyone who tried to surpass the “No Photographs Allowed” policy. Roman was very sharp-eyed, so he knew all the tricks and schemes people had tried to pull without the camera flash on.
Roman had to admit that it was the most breathtaking piece of jewelry he had ever seen. He wouldn’t doubt if one of these days, it ended up being called at “Every Girl’s Best Friend.” There were load of female visitors, mostly mature ones, that would peer at it with envy.
The sound of something clattering on the pulled Roman back in the museum abruptly and he returned into work mode in an instant.
“Whose there?” Roman barked, the echoes of his voice bounced off the walls. He snapped the flashlight on instinctively and looked up for the source of that clattering noise. The sound was happening again the second time, only this time it was coming from another room.
—
Peering down from the skylight, the man noticed that the guard had distanced himself away from his target to go somewhere. He snickered in satisfaction as he clasped his hand around the pebbles he was holding. “Works everytime.”
The man was clad in black and had a skull adorned scarf wrapped around his mouth. He shoved the remaining pebbles in his pocket before he tiptoed over the skylight. He crouched down and fished out a putty knife and carefully worked his way around the edges of the screen panel. Once he successfully popped the glass out and set it aside, he fished out his grappling hook and secured its steel claw onto the edge of the frame.
As the man in black prepared himself for descending, he dipped his legs into the empty frame where the glass once was, with only one target in mind: The Hope Diamond.