Chapter Text
“In just the last few weeks, this Starlight has managed to rob millions of euros combined from a Swiss bank, a high-end art gallery in Cairo, and a Shanghai amusement park.” Devineaux looked over to his partner Argent. They were driving to a possible sight of their mysterious thief.
“Before vanishing without a trace. Headquarters has yet to discern any pattern except that our perpetrator always wears a galaxy coat, stary fedora, and seems to announce their crimes by making random public appearances beforehand.”
“Such as the nearby cafe sighting earlier today. So we must ask ourselves, who in the world is Starlight? Why would a thief draw attention to themselves by leaving clues and wearing outlandish colors?”
“Perhaps stealing’s a game to them.”
“The game is over. They are in my jurisdiction now, though I question why?”
“Poitiers is rich with medieval history. Perhaps they are targeting a priceless antique or historical artifact from one of its many churches, or–” Devineaux slams on the breaks.
“Ms. Argent, you are an agent of Interpol, not a museum guide. So you may stop sharing dull facts about boring things. You have been on the force for only two weeks. You have so much to learn, and since you have been assigned to my department, I, Chase Devineaux, will be your teacher.” While he had been talking, Julia had noticed a certain coat-wearing thief in her side mirror.
“Inspector Devineaux, sir–”
“Nuh-uh. Sit back, watch, and learn how to catch a thief.”
“They’re right there!” He turns around and sees a figure using a grappling hook to climb up onto the roof.
“Starlight!” He drove back to the building the figure went up and got out of the car to watch them disappear onto the roof. “Stay here!”
“And radio for assistance?”
“No, the Galaxy Ghost is mine!” He jumps the car to chase after them.
On the roof, the figure dressed in the galaxy coat makes their way closer to the tip and sees the beautiful view of Poitiers. Their obsidian hair, long and flowing around them in the wind along with their coat. The moon behind them illuminates and shadows them at the same time.
“On top of the world. I can see La Cathedral Saint-Pierre from here.”
“Friendly advice? Save the sightseeing for after the job.” A young voice came in through the earring as Kaylub gave a soft chuckle.
“BubbleB, glad to hear you’re on board.”
“You know I wouldn’t miss a night out with you for the world, Star. Let’s get this party started.” BubbleB was a young African-American boy with extremely short brown hair wearing a red hoodie as he sat before an area of screens. He smiles before typing away on his computer.
“Synced. If our intel is accurate, the next stop on your sightseeing tour of historic Poitiers should be… 50 yards dead ahead.” Kaylub smirked and rushed off making his way across the roofs.
“What’s my temperature?”
“Warm, star.” He smiled and kept going. “Getting warmer. You’re red hot.” He paused as his coat whipped around him in momentum. He slips out the grappling gun from his sleeve and launches himself up to the higher roof. He walks over to the glass roof, pulls out a chapstick, then clicks a button revealing the hacking device and connects it to the alarm system.
BubbleB got to quick work on hacking into the system.
“Alarm system disabled.” Kaylub takes out the chapstick and puts it away. “But I’m picking up another signal. Could be a trap.”
“Let’s find out.” Kaylub fries open the lock and opens the panel.
“Watch your step, Star.” He goes down like a snowflake in the winter. He hovers above the floor.
“Watching my step.” Masks light up and arrows start to fire at him. He notices and sees a shield within reach, he kicks it up and uses it to block the arrows. He looks at the front of the shield with all the arrows in it. “Welp, this just became worthless.” He places it down and walks around.
Chase breaks down the door and rushes into the building getting into the ancient elevator as it slowly rises. “Why must the elevator date back two centuries? Was no one ever in a hurry back then!”
“Okay, who walls up an atrium?” Kaylub starts to look around in the vases and tapping the wall.
“Anyone who values storage over natural light.”
“He said, a little too knowingly.”
“Don’t judge. I’m happy here in my bubble.” Kaylub then noticed the candles and decided to give it a light tug. It opens the wall to reveal a vault.
“You called it, BubbleB. Right tool for the job. Ah, this works.” He opens his trench coat and pulls out an advanced screen that allows Bubble B to try many different combinations to open the door.
Chase finally reached the second floor and realized how pointless it was to take the elevator. He takes the stairs.
“Safe cracked.” Kaylub listens to the hiss of the door unlocking and opening. He smirks as the light from within the safe lights him up. He sees the prize he came for sitting sweetly in the middle without a case like the other possessions inside.
“The Eye of Vishnu.” He starts to enter the vault but gasps when he notices a certain memory object.
“What is it, Star?”
“I’m looking at something I never thought I’d see again.” He walks away over to the glass case where it resided.
“It better be more valuable than a sparkly blue gemstone the size of my head.”
“Define valuable. They say beauty’s in the eye of the beholder.”
“Are you gonna tell me what it is, Star, or–” The two hear knocking on the door that was very much locked.
“Interpol! Open this door!”
“Get the gem and get out of there already!” Kaylub smirked and grabbed the most valuable thing.
Chase broke the door down and saw the galaxy thief bagging something.
“Stop, thief!” Starlight smirked and rushed over to him, kicking a footrest over to trip the man as he leaped over and pushed the man to the ground. He makes his way to the door that Chase had just opened.
“On whose authority?” He turned around and watched the man get up as he reached for something in his top pocket.
“On the authority of, uh…”
“Inspector Chase Devineaux, Interpol.” Starlight was holding his badge. ““Chase,” huh?” He looks up at the man, his night eyes sparkling with mischief. “Let’s see what’s in a name.” He tosses the badge back and watches the man rush over to him. He easily escapes using his grappling hook to go back to the window he entered.
Starlight swiftly makes his way across the rooftop.
“I order you to stop!” Starlight does as told as the moon makes him sparkle. Chase makes his way over to the rooftop from the window he opened to shout at the galaxy thief.
“You never said for how long.” He then runs off.
“It was implied!” Chase shouts as he then chases after the smaller male.
Starlight easily bounds across the rooftops while Chase struggles to keep up with every jump, but he doesn’t give up. Starlight stops on one roof before sliding down to see a car at the bottom. He looks behind him to see Chase still behind him. Chase smirks seeing that the other male was at a dead end.
“Au revoir.” Starlight jumps backwards off the building before activating his glider and gliding away into the night.
Both Julia and Chase gasp, but the tile Chase is on gives way and he goes falling right onto the front of the car. The alarms go off as Julia finds Chase’s keys and turns it off.
“Did you just–?”
“Never mind that!” Chase was a mess, but somehow fine. “Where in the world is Starlight?”
Said Starlight was gliding over the countryside of France as a train was passing under him.
“My train. I’m right on time.”
“Like you ever aren’t. Ticket purchased and uploaded.” Kaylub checked his galaxy phone and saw that the ticket was there. He smiled.
“They have to land sometime. How far can they possibly get?” Julia questioned as Chase was walking back and forth.
“He is heading for the train station. Secure the crime scene! Deduce what was stolen.” Chase climbs into the damaged car and drives off leaving Julia behind.
“He?”
Kaylub lands in the train station and swiftly changes out of his outfit. He pulls his hair up into a high bun with a few strands of his wavy hair out. As he carried a duffle bag, he smirks and enters the train knowing he had succeeded in another heist.
Chase arrived at the station just to see the train leaving. He hits his wheel and the glass of his windshield shatters… and the airbag deploys.
Julia is slowly taking the elevator up to the crime scene when her phone rings.
“Inspector. Good news, I hope.”
“Ms. Argent– Julia– you’re the smartest person I know, so tell me, please…” she raises a brow, “is it possible for an automobile to catch a moving train? Driving aggressively, of course.”
“Well, I’m really not much of a math detective, but I suppose it depends upon how many stops the train makes and for how long at each.”
“Mm-hmm. Then perhaps I shall catch this Little Galaxy Robbing Hood.” He hangs up and tosses his phone into the back with a smirk as he drives on.
Kaylub enters his compartment and looks around.
“First class. Sweet.”
“My treat, Star. You earned it.” He places the duffle down and pulls out the bag containing his treasure. He then hears the door open.
“Well, well.” He turned to see an old familiar face. The green mohawk and piercings were a dead giveaway as he pulls out a glowing green stick that hums to life as he turns it. “Blast from the past, eh?” He presses the button and a green-ray zaps him.
“Star? Kaylub?” BubbleB had lost signal of him.
“Really? Static cling?” He shakes off the light shock he had without feeling the pain.
“Side effect of the directional EMP. So you can forget about reaching for your phone or fancy toys. They’re dead.”
“I know how an electromagnetic pulse works, Duncan. You aren’t the only one who passed Dr. Bellum’s class.” Kaylub picks up his bag and takes a seat. “And you didn’t really think I’d take any of your bait without checking for a tracking device, did you, Duncan?” The cocky smirk fell away as he stood opposite the obsidian-haired male. “That’s right, I wanted you to find me.” He glares at him. “It’s time we tied up loose ends.” Duncan takes a seat.
“You were the only loose end until five seconds ago when I captured the elusive Starlight. Or should I call you… “Sunshine”? Kaylub smirked.
“Welcome to VILE Training Academy for thieves.” A large dark-skinned male dressed in a green uniform with a chef’s hat on his bald head stood before an auditorium of students. “V-I-L-E. Valuable Imports, Lavish Exports. We traffic stolen goods to the four corners of the globe. You’ve each been hand-picked for our one-year program due to the extraordinary potential you’ve demonstrated. I am Chef Hatchet, and these are my house rules. Rule number one– no contact with the outside world. That means no portable electronic devices allowed.” He crushes the phone like a stress ball. Many gasps. “And rule number two– first names only until you get assigned your code name. Right, Sunray?” Kaylub sinks into his seat as a mohawk, pierced up male in front of him notices the gaze and male behind him shrinking with a nervous smile.
“Sunny? Who knew VILE had a mascot?” He laughs, but is instantly pulled over the back of his seat to where Kaylub was hovering over him forcing him to bend his back in an uncomfortable position.
“Only my friends call me “Sunray.” My code name’s Sunshine. Got it? Nod if you got it.” He nods as the abyss eyes let him go.
Duncan chuckles as Kaylub was casually sitting even with the weapon aimed at him.
“You really schooled me the day we met.”
“I figured you needed to know who you were dealing with.” The two were silent, smiling at each other, but then Duncan got serious.
“Well, it seems I still don’t know. The slick starry hat, the cryptic new name. Who are you, really?”
“A professional thief, just like you.”
“No, you weren’t like the rest of us. How did you get into crime school?”
“You want the whole story?” Duncan looked at the shorter male in front of him.
“You’re done when we reach Paris. Make it count.” Kaylub sighs and looks out the window.
“For as long as I can remember, I lived on an island paradise that also happened to be home to a school for thieves. That’s right, VILE Academy. It was no grade school, but I was homeschooled by a revolving door of nannies. Some taught me how to read and write, and most taught me about the diverse places they were from, their languages, their cultures. I do have a name, but all the staff decided to give me a code name early.”
A young Kaylub travels through the halls of the VILE Academy as students pass him by.
“What’s up, Sunshine?” Kaylub holds up the male students belt.
“Not your pants!”
“I got to hang out on campus with the big kids.” Kaylub sneaks out from behind the pillar and snatches the bars of soap from the cleaners and uses them as scates to slide down the hall. “I was literally the only child on the Isle of VILE… which meant I got away with murder.”
Kaylub was hiding behind a rock holding a water balloon. He sent it flying when he saw the two people dressed in green arrive. It drenched the man and Kaylub laughs which gives away his position.
“Why you-” Kaylub stops laughing when he sees the man rushing towards him. He runs away and easily keeps a good distance since he had a head start.
“Sure, the Campus of Crime was no place for children, but I never once felt like I was in danger.” He shows skill in acrobatics as he easily bounds off two students shoulders only to slip on the recently cleaned floor. “I was a part of the family. I had protection.” The man finally had Kaylub cornered, but Chef arrived behind the man.
“Is there a problem here?” Chef knocks the man out causing his phone to fly out of his pocket and right in front of Kaylub. He fiddles with the new device.
“I never learned why I ended up on the Isle.”
“Let’s get you some cookies, mini.” Kaylub hid the phone behind his back as he looked at Chef’s offered hand.
“But I always suspected Chef was the one who found me”
Chef easily lifted Kaylub up onto his shoulder and carried him away.
“The island was my world. For all I knew, the Earth was square. There was no right or wrong. Thievery was a competition, a game.” Kaylub hid the phone within a set of nesting dolls which were different animals. “One I was ready to play for real. I couldn’t bear watching 40 thieves graduate from the academy year after year. I wanted to get out there and be one of those thieves already!”
Kaylub’s hidden phone rings from within the Elephant nesting doll. He looks up from the book he was reading and goes over to it.
“A white hat?” He then sees a text that comes through. ““Better beef up your security. I got in.”” Kaylub looks around the room. ““Got in”? Where? Here?” The phone then rings. He was worried about picking it up, but chose to anyway.
“Hello?” The voice on the other side sounded young and male.
“He- hello?”
“Who is this?”
“Sunshine.”
“Come on, what’s your real name?”
“Sunshine.” Since that’s all they would call him.
“Okay. Usernames work. You can call me… BubbleB.” A young boy in an orange sweater says as he leans back from his computer.
“Do you really wear a white hat?” He looks up at the cap he’s wearing.
“Uh, why? You’ve never heard of “white hat hackers”?”
“That’s a thing?”
“I have amazing hacking skills, but I use them for good.”
“Okay, that doesn’t even make sense.”
“Sure it does. I just hacked through 27 layers of encryption. So, who do I inform over there about the weak link so you can upgrade your security?”
“Are you pranking me? Where are you calling from?”
“My room in Niagara Falls.” Kaylub gasps.
“Seriously? Which side of the falls?”
“Canadian.”
“You’re in Ontario?”
“Whoa, you really know your geography.”
“What’s it like there?”
“It’s all right.” Kaylub notices Host coming over. “We have computers, and internet, and…” Kaylub slips out of his room/home and sneaks around. “Hey, where in the world are you?”
“School.” He slips away going towards the beach.
“What kind of school needs 27 layers of encryption?” He remains silent looking around.
“Making contact with someone from the outside world was just the push I needed. It was time to state my case to the only family I knew.”
Kaylub stood outside the Faculty door and took a deep breath before entering. He walked before the high table of faculty.
“Sunshine, why have you requested our audience?” An old man with a stern look spoke first, looking down at the young onyx-haired boy dressed in a jumper dress.
“I’m ready.” He scoffs.
“To enroll?”
“I know I’m not technically old enough, Professor Maelstrom, but I already have what it takes to be an excellent thief. Best ever!” Professor Maelstrom raised a brow at the outburst. “Um, in– in my opinion, sir.”
“Sunshine may be young, but he has had more training at his age than any recruit, even if only by osmosis.” The lady dressed like a mad scientist said.
“Dr. Bellum is right. Mini’s got gumption. I’d say he’s ready to run with the big dogs.” Kaylub smiled at Chef.
“I, for one, am thrilled to have Sunshine’s plenty of manners in a classroom setting. The boy is a delight.” Kaylub gives a soft bow to Countess Cleo.
“And you, Host?” Host was a man with wavy onyx hair that stopped around his shoulders with matching soulless eyes. He looked a lot like Sunshine, but one was a bundle of joy with light in his eyes and the other seemed to be empty of life.
“He’s just a child, compared to the others here.”
“But he’s a case for advanced placement.”
“And last time I checked, majority vote rules.” Chef looked over at Host who gave the large male a blank look.
Host stood from his chair and looked down on the little copy of himself.
“Sunshine, you had better be certain that becoming a professional thief is what you truly desire, for if you choose this road, there will be no turning back.” Kaylub paused, closing his eyes and then looking into darker eyes.
“I want this more than anything, Host. And I am willing to go to the end of the line.” Host stares hard at the young boy.
“All in favor?” Chef is the first to raise his hand and going down the line, each of the instructors raise their hands… except for Host. He leaves the table.
“Our little Sun’s going to be all grown up!” Kaylub smiled despite watching Host leave.
“I was finally one of the big kids.” Kaylub carried a box of his stuff, including his globe, into the actual dormitory. “One of the 40 thieves. I’d survived orientation, and I was ready to meet my future partners in crime–” Kaylub set up his nesting dolls as another student was already in the dorm. He was a silent ginger male. The door then opened and four people walked in, two females and two males. “My roommates.” Kaylub walks over to the group.
“Hi, I’m Sunshine.” He gives a smile.
“Hello, I am Jacques.” He was a tall male with blond hair that was in a pomp style.
“And I am Josee.” She was a raven-haired, dark-eyed, girl who seemed close with Jacques.
“Courtney.” A brunette with a dominant vibe passes by him. He then looks and sees the male with the mohawk enter.
“You.”
“Feel free to skip ahead. I was there, too, you know.” Kaylub raised a brow at Duncan across from him who interrupted.
“Yes, Duncan. You were there. But were you seeing things from my point of view?”
“Hey, Sunshine, is it?” Duncan offers his hand. “Names Duncan.”
“Huh, this where you hide your pearls, little girl?”
“Please, don’t touch my stuff. And I’m not a girl.” His gaze was now on Courtney who was by his nesting dolls.
“What, these?”
“I mean it.” She reaches for the panda which was the second biggest doll.
“Play nice, princess. We all have to room together.” Duncan makes her back off.
“Probably costume jewelry.” Kaylub looked up at Duncan who winked at him. This earns him a smile.
“First day of class, and I was already making friends.” Kaylub looks over at Courtney leaving. “And enemies.”
“So, what’s your story, Duncan?” The two were walking through the hall together.
“I was raised in a family of cops, something in me begged to rebel and so I did. Started being the one they would normally lock up, but wasn’t caught.”
“Nice.”
“What about you, Shortstack? What’s your story?”
“Uh… Come on, Duncan, don’t wanna be late for Stealth and Acting 101.” He gives him a smile as they hurry along their way.
“Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, is the surest means of perfecting a nimble touch.” Host reveals a sun origami. “Essential to perfect pickpocketing.” The class works on making Origami.
“First rule of self-defense– always protect the face. Unless you wanna be knocked out or wind up with a face like mine.” Chef watches over as Kaylub and Duncan spar against each other with bamboo rods.
“Pop quiz!” Countess Cleo walks out onto the stage. “One of these two vases is discount-store-grade garbage. And the other, genuine Ming, valued at $300,000. Which would you steal?” It was quiet as the group looked between the two vases.
“My latest invention–” Dr. Bellum holds up a green rod that glows with electricity. “The crackle rod. Settings can be adjusted here. EMP, stun mode, and so on.” Kaylub and Duncan share a look of excitement.
“To properly execute a bait-and-switch, the objects should be of equal weight and size.” Professor Maelstrom and Courtney were in front of the class with two suitcases. Courtney had the one with the money in it. The two walk towards each other and Maelstrom bumped her to drop the case. The two each grab a case with Courtney holding hers close and they cross the stage. “And there you have the switch.” He smirks and shows the fact that he has the cash. Courtney opens hers and gets grossed out by the bugs and worms.
“Oh, gross, what is this?”
“That, my dear, would be the bait.”
“BubbleB. School’s been great. I wish you were here.”
“Sunshine! Come on, man!” Kaylub hid his phone away.
“Who’s that?”
“Duncan. A punk boy.” He chuckles. “He’s my best friend.”
“Oh.”
“My best school friend.” He could hear the disappointment in BubbleB’s voice. “Any, gotta run. I’m late for Infiltration 101.”
“What kind of school do you go to, again?”
“Stand tall, class. Today’s goal– be the first to reach the target.” Chef was speaking to the group of five as they were all on stilts.
“Jacques,” he nods to Josee who gets rid of her stilts and lands in his arms. He plans to toss her up to the button above the rock wall, but Kaylub was quick to use the stilts to their full potential and just rose up to the button touching right as Josee had arrived on the wall. He gives her a smile.
“We really honed our skills. We studied hard and trained harder. But we also played hard.”
“Here’s the deal. Every first of December, she arrives right on schedule. I’m talking about Cookie Booker, VILE’s bookkeeper.” The group was behind a group of rocks that overlooked the docks. “See that thing she’s holding? It’s a hard drive, and it’s loaded with classified information supplied by VILE operatives all over the world. It’s way too important to risk uploading from a remote location, so they make her do a hand-carry by boat to avoid radar detection. Take aim, and bring the rain,” Kaylub’s smirk was devious. The four with him all hold up red water balloons. They send them flying before running off laughing, Once they arrive back on campus they’re stopped by the Cleaners who were outside.
“Vlad, Boris. Hello.” Kaylub was surprisingly calm, but inside he was panicking like the others. They were taken to the Faculty room.
“I take full responsibility.” Kaylub remained calm as he stood before the faculty.
“Didn’t I tell you Sunshine was still a child. I recommend expulsion.” Host was harsh and stared at him. Chef looked over to Host.
“Now… isn’t that… extreme?” Duncan looks down at Kaylub who’s trying to hide his sadness.
“Esteemed Faculty, with due respect, Sunshine isn’t to blame. We pushed him on.”
“What? No, we didn’t!” Courtney was quick to whisper to Duncan.
“We can’t expel the whole squad of them, can we?” The rest of the Faculty share looks.
“Detention? What, are we in grade school?” Courtney wasn’t a fan as the group was sitting in the library.
“Thanks for having my back.” Kaylub gave a smile as they were sitting at the table.
“I’m going to have your head.”
“Hey, focus. These code names aren’t naming themselves.” Duncan said from across the table with his chair backwards.
“Ooh. I have one for you– Striker.” Jaques says from the ground next to Kaylub.
“The Strikeman?” Josee brings up.
“Lame.” Courtney says which earns her a glare.
“Delinquent.” Duncan looks at Kaylub.
“Delinquent… I like it.” He stands up. “Delinquent. The one kid in school you know will mess you up.” He wields a Crackle rod.
“Well, we are the Ice Dancers-”
“Cool under pressure and a performance you won’t miss.” Jacques and Josee say as they wear skates that pop out of their shoes and pose together.
“Well this Princess’ reign has only just begun.” Courtney sports a tiara that doubles as a weapon.
As the group heads to class, they are blocked by a ginger mime.
“Ugh, him.” Josee wasn’t a fan of the mime.
“The quiet guy from class.”
“Hello? Code name?” He starts to mime a ticking time bomb. “Ugh, he’s so weird.”
“Mime Bomb!” He smiles while tapping his nose pointing at Kaylub. Then he moonwalks away.
“The school year came and went. I couldn’t wait to graduate and plot our first caper as VILE operatives! We just needed to ace out final exams and we’d be professional thieves.” Kaylub makes the exams look easy. But then came Host’s exam.
“For the first exam, I call… Princess.” She looks over at Kaylub and smirks.
“I got this.” She shows him an origami sun only to step on it as she stands.
“Somewhere in this coat is a dollar bill. It has many pockets. Get the dollar… if you can. Your two minutes start now.” He starts the timer as he wears the coat.
Princess takes off her tiara and throws it towards Host charging after it. But he easily dodges not only her but also the tiara tripping her as she passes. Duncan and Kaylub share a glance. She catches her tiara and tries again only to get grabbed and harshly shoved back. Her tiara returned to her and it had cut the coat bringing the shard over to her. She reaches into the pocket to find the bill.
“Easy.” She tosses the shredded clothing in front of Kaylub.
“Host is so calling foul.”
“Terrible technique.” He holds up the torn coat. Duncan and Kaylub smile at each other. “But excellent results.” Courtney returns the bill with a smile. Kaylub is left speechless.
“Oh come on, he’s totally playing favorites!” Duncan says as Courtney winks at Kaylub.
“Sunshine!” Kaylub looks up at the older replica who has a new coat. His abyss eyes gave nothing away as night eyes held a spark of joy in them at the challenge. He even smirks walking up to him.
The group exits the classroom each relieved to pass… except for Kaylub and Duncan.
“I swear I hit every pocket. If there was a dollar in there, I couldn’t find it.”
“Hey, so you froze a little.” Duncan puts a hand on the younger male. “Like that’s gonna affect your grade? You’re the best pickpocket in our class. Totally in a league of your own.” Kaylub looks up at him.
“You think?”
“I know. Shortstack.” He then messes with his hair as Kaylub knocks his hand away and follows after him. He pauses and looks back at Host’s classroom.
Kaylub was traveling the halls and saw a large gathering.
“Results are in!” Duncan calls out to Kaylub. He goes over to him, but because of his height, it’s hard to see. Courtney passes. Josee and Jaques pass. Even Mime Bomb passes. Then Duncan freezes and his shoulders slump.
“Duncan? Did- did you…?” He didn’t want to finish the question.
“I’m in, but…” Kaylub passes him to see that next to his name was a red X. “I’m sorry.”
“Delinquent. Come sit at the big kids' table.” Courtney pulls him away from Kaylub who’s still facing the results.
“Go on, Duncan. I’ll be fine.” He gives him a smile.
“Aw. Looks like someone needs to turn in their stealth suit. Come on, let’s go plot a caper.” Duncan gives one last look over to Kaylub before going with Courtney.
Host leaves his class and closes the door. He plans on locking it, but feels that his keys are missing only to hear them jingle.
“Looking for these?” Kaylub tosses them back to his older look-alike.
“Playing games? Perusal.” There was a slight smile on his lips.
“No game. I want a do-over.” The smile vanishes as does the little bit of light that was there.
“And you will have it next year, once you redo your coursework.” He places the keys away.
“You’re not listening. Put on the coat. I want a do-over now.” Matching eyes stare at each other.
“Sunshine, you’re now one of the other students. We don’t bend policy for students. Good night.”
“The coat was empty, wasn’t it?” Host spins on him.
“Are you accusing a VILE instructor of cheating?” His voice was soft and cold, like ice just freezing over a lake.
“S-sorry.” He looks down but remembers why he’s here. “I know I’m as good as anyone in my class. Better, even. And I know you know it, too!” He holds up the keys that he took again.
“And you also happen to be a child. You are not ready.” He takes the keys and leaves Kaylub looking down, saddened.
“No. I am ready. Ready as I’ll ever be.”
That night, Kaylub slips out of bed, using his globe and other possessions to fake a still sleeping body, He slips away. Going through the sewers, he finds his way to the exit and sees the helicopter which was getting ready for take off. Using all his might, he manages to get the gate to open and heads out.
Out of the shadows comes Mime Bomb with a sinister smirk.
“Our first crime caper, where it all gets real!” Duncan says as he and the others strap in.
“School’s out. Time to sturt our stuff.” Josee says as they take off. Duncan looks out the window down at the school.
“See ya, Sunshine.” Little did he know that there was a certain pint-sized stowaway hiding in the back.