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"Mammon, take the next left."
"Yeah yeah, I know."
"Jump over the infrared sensor in the next hallway."
The white-haired agent effortlessly lept over the invisible trip line, "I told ya, I know!"
"Watch out for the center display case."
Mammon swiveled around the case with ease. "Dammit Levi, I know! We went over the blueprint again and again, I know this place like the back of my hand. So quit it!"
"Is that so?" Levi spun in his computer chair, "Because last time you said that, Lucifer had to come bail you out."
"Tch, that rich guy had too many gadgets," Mammon lowered his voice and came to a pause at the intersection of halls. He peeked around the corner to watch the pair of guards turn down another corridor.
"And you've got a habit of getting distracted. Anyways, this museum is nothing to scoff at, it's got plenty of security. It's only been easy for you so far because you've got me, the genius hacker, working on it."
As Mammon ran ahead, he smiled. He would never admit it aloud but Levi was good. It's been a breeze so far, at this rate they'd grab the painting and be home before sun up.
The painting in question was done by the mysterious artist M.C. Everyone wanted to get their hands on this work in particular as it was described to depict the human condition. Investors would pay a pretty penny to be the owner and the money was already burning a hole in Mammon's pocket. If they were going to finish the job early anyway, Mammon wondered if he could make away with a second prize. There was another work close by their goal that had piqued his interest when reviewing the building plans. The painting was owned by the old King Solomon. People debate whether he was strictly the owner or if he was possibly the painter. The painting would pair well with the work by M.C. and could potentially score the syndicate a huge bonus. The commissions the two of them could earn was making Mammon drool. He turned right for the section that held Solomon's painting.
"Mammon, what are you doing?!" Levi shouted into their comm system.
"You'll thank me for this," Mammon smirked.
"No no no no, you idiot, don't!" Levi typed furiously to try to disable the security devices in front of Mammon as he ran. He was barely keeping up but so far he'd turned off the sensors, exchanged the camera feeds to run on a loop, and diverted guards' attention by signaling a trip of the alarms in a far part of the museum. That was as far as luck took them though.
When Mammon entered the room for the ancient mural, the roll-down security gate came crashing down. "Levi, what the hell's going on?" There was only static on the line in response.
Levi could hear Mammon through the camera feed in the room but the room seemed to be a dead spot for their comms. "That moron," Levi growled his frustration as he scanned the cameras throughout the facility. Someone must have brought those gates down. Then he saw him, it was tough to miss the bulky mass running through the halls, "Diavolo... which means," his thought was cut off.
"That's right, Leviathan," a new voice entered his ear.
"Barbatos..." Levi sighed. Another genius hacker enters the chat, Levi thought as he tried to free Mammon. Nothing that he attempted would get the gate up or restore the connection with his partner. Levi frustratedly ripped off his headset, grabbed a tablet from its dock, the extra painting canister, and rushed to the nearest entrance. He'd have to make the grab himself. "Damn you Mammon, you couldn't stick to the mission this one time." Levi tapped on his tablet as he ran, "You just had to be greedy and push for something more than we came for." In the distance a gate crashed shut, Levi smiled having used their tactics against them.
Levi could hear the door rattle as Diavolo banged on it. It wouldn't completely stop him, just diverted him to a longer route. Diavolo was a professional that didn't wander into dead ends like the deadweight Levi was working with. Levi took a moment to crouch down near a safe wing. He scanned through the security cameras on his tablet. They were still on loop and the guards were addressing his false alarm. The main problem was Diavolo and Barbatos from Devil's Associates. "Why'd they have to be here tonight?" Levi grumbled and got back up to run toward the painting. It is a straight shot but once there, the room that stored the treasured piece would take time to navigate. At night there is a fingerprint scanner to open the room, of course, sensors at all different angles, and a wall trip that would alarm if the painting was removed.
First up, is the fingerprint scanner. Levi held up the tablet to project the saved fingerprint that he and Mammon had gathered during their recon. The panel beeped and the gate lifted offering entry to the room. Next, Levi had to avoid the sensors. Unfortunately, there was no way to disable these infrared sensors. If he had turned them off, the night guards would get an alert. Levi pulled a pair of goggles out of his pocket that would allow him to see the infrared with ease. He shimmied and contorted to make his way around the beams and towards the painting. Levi was the most unfamiliar with the last security measure. To figure out what kind of mechanism hid behind the way, Levi pulled out his tablet and took a few x-ray images. The purple-haired agent frowned as he assessed the pulleys and possible ways to bypass the whole thing entirely. The only idea that came to him was what he went with. There was no sense in wasting time when the mission was already compromised. He might as well try to get out of the museum as soon as possible. While Levi pulled the framed photo from the wall, he kept his finger on the hanging nail to simulate the pressure of the painting. Once he placed the frame on the ground, Levi grabbed his tablet and chose to overload the mechanism's battery. If it fried itself while the pressure was adequate, he hoped that at the very least they would note to replace the battery without having the alarms activate. It seemed to do the trick! There weren't any guards rushing him or blaring noises so that had to be a good sign, right? Levi snapped the corners of the frame and freed the painting. Delicately, he rolled the paper and put it into the canister.
"Levi," Diavolo entered the room but stayed by the entrance cutting off Levi's exit.
He looked around the room, trying to figure out anything he could do but he was stuck. The infrared beams were the only things between them. Maybe Diavolo thought Levi had disabled them? "Diavolo, you're too late, I've already got the painting."
"Hm," Diavolo scratched his chin and smiled, "That may be so but you're going to have to get past me if you want to leave with the painting."
If it came down to a fight, there's no way Levi would come out the victor. Diavolo had muscles on muscles, Levi wouldn't stand a chance.
By some miracle, the ventilation grate at the top corner of the room busted open. "Thought you were going to leave me behind?" Mammon smirked, propping himself up on the wall and hanging out of the vent.
"Mammon!" Levi wouldn't admit it but he was thankful to have such a tenacious partner. "Take the painting!" He chucked the container up to the man in the corner.
"Whoa!" Mammon caught the canister and saluted to the men standing in the room, "See you on the outside!"
"Wait, you're not going to help me??" Levi whined as he watched white hair disappear back into the vents.
"A shame," Diavolo shook his head. "Barbatos will probably trap him in the vents or intercept him outside. What are we going to do?"
They were locked in a stalemate. Well, nothing to lose, Levi thought. "This," he shoved his hand out in front of him, triggering the infrared sensor.
Diavolo and Levi covered their ears as the loud alarm bells rang throughout the museum.
"Are you going to stay and get caught with me?" Levi provokes.
Diavolo frowns but makes a quick exit.
Levi leaves next. He pulls out his tablet to find where the guards are coming from. Since they were previously on the other side of the building, the majority are running together in a large group. Levi pulled up the blueprint to find the closest exit, "Mammon you better make it out," he huffed and packed in his tablet. There was only one exit at the rear of the museum that didn't have a guard posted. Levi already unlocked it and it would get him close to their rendezvous spot. Just as he began running toward freedom, Levi could hear the sounds of the guards shouting. "Mammon, you better make it out so I can kill you myself." He barely made it through the doors and into the cover of night but he made it nonetheless.