A Touch of Blue - 1. The Museum

Roy

I was just getting my second coffee for the night when my phone started beeping like crazy.

As soon as it goes off, I drop everything and run to my car.

The museum of history has been broken into. If I am not mistaken, a certain jewel thief is in there.

When this first started, I would have called in and asked for backup, but thanks to this damn thief, nobody ever trusts me with making any calls.

They mock me and say that I am a bit obsessed with this case. That is not at all my fault!

Ok, I get it. We have had to deal with a large amount of aliens joining into our community thanks to the Alentian, Mekaias, but that does not mean we should be ignoring the crimes that are happening in our own homes!

I turn on the lights on top of my car.

I need to get there as soon as possible.

Why would Zafiro be attacking the museum? I get there are special jewels and other priceless things, but why this one?

This museum is right in the middle of the city, it is rather close to the security base so why would he bother with this one?

It is strange and I am not sure if I should have gone alone.

I guess I can radio in that I am headed to the museum.

Actually, I’ll just tell Avery that I am headed that way. She is one of the few that can get everyone’s attention.

Opening my cell phone, I dial Avery’s number in and wait for her voice to come in.

After a few moments, she answers.

“Don’t tell me you’re going after your little boyfriend again, are you?” She sighs as soon as the call connects.

“Yeah I am.” I say without caring for the little joke, “He is hitting the museum of history on Barnabas Street.”

She sighs again. “Roy, I get that it gets annoying when you almost catch someone, but you need to calm down and look towards some easier cases. This is only going to get to your head.”

I roll my eyes.

The main reason nobody is going after this thief is because he is most likely the son of the previous jewel thief.

Her name was Sophie Banderas. She could never get caught and she stole billions worth of paintings and jewels.

Now Zafiro, who I believe is her son, is doing the same. However, he does not only steal paintings and jewels. He has broken into android factories and stolen parts for who knows what. He even stole a truck to carry away the stolen parts.

We were going to track it but sadly this thief is smart and removed the tracker from said truck.

I almost caught up to him about a year ago. He is always somehow one step ahead of me. It drives me insane.

“I’m fine.” I say, “I am just headed over because it is the right thing to do. I just wanted you to know I am here and I would not mind if you sent more people my way.”

Avery is silent for a moment, no doubt shaking her head. “Roy, I am not sending anyone out there with you. Either you drop the case or lose your mind.”

I end the call and drop my phone into the passenger seat.

So much for any backup.

I guess I do not exactly need it, but it is always nice to have someone watching your back.

~~~
~~~

Zafiro

Standing on top of the museum is rather nice.

They have those glass ceilings that let me see everything that is inside. Well, not everything, but just what is needed.

I press a button on the side of my goggles and I see that there aren’t any of those fancy invisible lasers.

Interesting. It is almost like they do not realize how expensive all their things are.

Oh well. More for me!

I push a suction cup into the glass. It would be bad if I just made a ton of noise and a mess, right?

Next I use the metal nails on my gloves. Now, I am not the best artist, but cutting a circle into the glass does not seem too hard to handle.

Cutting a nice, clean circle was easy. Now is the time to get down.

I already know that the Tin Can has put special security systems on all the museums in the city, so I will probably have some company later.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.

Pulling out some rope, I tie one end to some railing on the roof, then I throw the robe in through the hole in the glass.

I stand over the hole and check once again to make sure there isn’t anyone down there.

Seems clear to me!

I jump in and slide down the rope. I slow my fall and glance down at the painting of silver horses.

Honestly, it is not at all that impressive. I guess we are willing to call anything history if it was made long ago.

I believe it would be best to keep the more important things. Mainly more diamonds for me to steal! Not a picture of grey horses.

When I reach the floor, I quickly walk over to the painting and slip my hand behind it.

Yup, the target is there. Perfect!

I reach into the bag that hangs on my side and pull out my tools.

I do hate when they screw the paintings into walls. I would rip the painting in half but the object in the back might be ruined as well. Thankfully an electric drill makes life so much easier.

Checking again if there is anyone nearby, I immediately get to screwing.

The nails fall to the ground and when I am done, the painting almost falls.

Now I will say one thing, this painting is big. I had to use the rope to get the top nails.

I toss the painting onto its face and then look at the folder that is attached to the bottom right corner.

You’d think that these museum people would check their stock to make sure nothing has been tampered with. I guess that just isn’t a thing here.

I rip the folder out and shove it into my bag.

Well, that’s done. Now it is time for my favorite part!

It is a game called ‘What would Zafiro want?’

I love this game.

~~~
~~~

Roy

Do I need my gun? I feel like maybe I don’t. What if I am wrong and this isn’t Zafiro?

No wait, of course it’s him. I saw him on my damn phone.

I have the cameras linked up to my phone. Right now he just finished pulling something out of a painting. That was pretty weird. I will have to look into that.

The thing that really gets under my skin is how casual he is with all of this. From the way he is bobbing his head, I can tell he is listening to music.

Who listens to music in the middle of stealing from a museum?

This guy does apparently.

Just as he is about to walk deeper into the museum, one of the night watch stumbles upon the thief.

I already know how this is going to play out. It is always the same.

Zafiro immediately throws his hand out and a dart hits the neck of the guard.

The guard reaches up to his neck but then his knees lock up under him and he falls flat on his face.

I just sigh.

I have sent multiple warnings out. I even put it in big letters. I bet the other museums are all the same and ignored those warnings.

So much for protecting our history.

The streets are rather empty since it is about two in the morning. That is pretty much a blessing. It makes speeding through the streets so much easier.

Every now and then I check back on the cameras. I know I should keep my eyes on the road but I need to make sure the thief is still there.

I mentally roll my eyes as I see Zafiro walking around like he is in a damn mall.

He looks into different glass cases that hold all kinds of jewelry. My guess is that this is some kind of royalty wing.

He has his finger on his chin like someone who is thinking about paying for it.

Everything about that is just irritating me.

Why does this person get under my skin so easily?

Whatever. I should stop letting this get into my head. This is a criminal and I should not be getting super into this.

Sure, he is an asshole that is stealing stuff and he likes to laugh as I am chasing after him, and sure this person just magically disappears during the day.

Nope, nothing about that drives me nuts. Nothing at all!

I would not be opposed to this person sitting behind bars however. That would actually be very nice to see.

If we could not get his mother, then I will happily take the son any day of any week.

Just how the hell am I supposed to catch him? He’s fast and seems to always know where he is going. It is all annoying.

Avery has chased him with me a few times and even I can tell she wanted to give up immediately.

The thief’s constant teasing annoys the hell out of everyone.

Well, tonight will hopefully be the night that I catch the little bitch.

After about ten minutes, I finally find myself at the entrance of the museum.

The parking lot is pretty empty except for about two or three cars.

I already know Zafiro does not drive so no use in investigating any of these cars.

I bang my fist on the door and then quickly change my skin into metal.

Thanks to my parents, I was fortunate enough to be augmented with being able to morph my skin into metal.

I don't even want to know how much that costed them.

People all over the universe pay for special changes to their body. Well, by people, I mean humans. Only we seem to do that.

Sure it can be seen as weird, but for us it is considered normal. Well, for the more financially stable that is.

I can thank my parents for making these chases somewhat easier.

Thanks to this skin, I deflect the little sleep darts that the Thief likes throwing out.

Wow. I really do only think of Zafiro.

Maybe Avery is right. I do need a break.

With another barrage of banging on the door, the night manager finally opens the door with an annoyed expression.

When he sees it is me, he must realize what is happening.

“We-we are being robbed?” He cries out.

I roll my eyes. “Yes. Do you have a card to get pass security and such?”

He hands me his own yellow card and I pull my phone to figure out where the Thief is.

He is in some other section of the museum but he immediately starts to run.

Shit!

I run off to find him.

~~~
~~~

Zafiro

So...I may have gotten a little distracted.

While I said that some things should not be considered history, I do love looking at everything. Especially the shiny sparkly stuff.

For instance, right now I am looking at a beautiful mask that is carved from a golden bar. It has pretty rubies and even a giant sapphire where the brow meets.

Maybe it is because of my name, but it really made me want to have it.

Mama says that I have a bad habit of keeping what should be sold. It isn’t my fault that there are so many precious jewels in the world.

Also, she couldn’t really talk shit when she did the same exact thing.

Let’s just say that it might run in the family.

While I was breaking into the glass box that kept my mask separated from me, my goggles gave a small beep in the middle of my music.

Tin Can is here!

The poor nerd seems to have developed a bit of an obsession with me. I personally think it’s pretty cute.

After grabbing the mask, I immediately make my escape.

As soon as I reach the rope to climb, metal panels slide out and cut off the glass ceiling.

Well, I didn’t expect that.

I will have to get onto Piggie for that. If I did not have another plan, I would be stuck here and it would be entirely his fault.

There is shouting coming from the other side of the wall.

Looks like the Tin Can is bossing around the other left over guards. Too bad they are just a bunch of late night rejects who are too lazy for their jobs.

I guess I am also a late night reject but besides the point...this should be fairly easy.

Pressing a button on my arm, the power dies out around me.

I do love my suit. It’s nice and comfy. Skin tight things usually tend to annoy me, but this one is pretty nice. It has all kinds of little gadgets and such. For instance, the blue button that causes a mini power outage.

There are shouts of confusion and I just smile. As I said before, easy.

With another button on my goggles, I am able to see better.

There are four giant stone columns that sit along the empty wall behind me. I quickly move behind them to hide.

Lights from flashlights can be seen coming from the entrances to this section of the museum.

Hmm...maybe I should get onto some higher points to look down on them better.

Using the little metal dents at the toes of my boots, I am able to climb the stone pillars. The metal nails in my gloves almost cut through the stone like butter.

When I get about twenty feet in the air, two guards enter with their stun guns held up.

Rude. Surely I don’t deserve the guns right now.

I free one of my hands from the pillar and then pull a sleeping dart from the pouch connected to my belt.

This pouch is skinnier and flat so that they don’t happen to poke me when I reach down for one. I learned my lesson when I had poked myself on accident.

One of the guards stands still and I just roll my eyes at these idiots.

I throw a dart and it flies down fast, hitting the back of his neck.

He reaches for where the dart hit but then he soon collapses on the ground.

The other guard notices this because the other’s flashlight rolls around on the floor.

Instantly he calls into his radio calling for help.

After throwing another dart in him, I drop down and sneak over to the left entrance.

Nobody seems to be here so that’s good.

Quietly, I pace myself through the hallway.

There are shouts behind me as they find their friends sleeping together.

I should hurry. They might be coming this way as well.

Ideally, I should find a way through the front. Wherever these guardsmen and the Tin Can have been, there wouldn’t be any annoying metal doors that have blocked my way.

I do stumble upon a hallway that holds pretty red lasers. They create a web that looks annoying to crawl through.

If things don’t go my way, I will probably have to go through it.

Please god, don’t make me do it.

Should I go through the vents? That could be a nice way out, but I have a feeling those have already had some special work done to them.

The next room I find myself in is the dinosaur exhibit. Since it looks the safest, I look around in here.

There are windows at the top of the walls, but those have those stupid metal panels as well.

Tin Can sure is trying his hardest, isn’t he?

Well apparently nothing is here.

I keep walking and find myself in what looks like a replica of a chapel?

It is a long room with multiple pews on both sides. A gigantic statue of an Angel sits at the very front. They hold their hands out to their sides as if they wish to give a hug.

On both sides of their hands, there are doorways out of here.

“Hurry up!” A voice shouts. “He is still in this building.”

I smile at Tin Can’s voice. He sounds a bit frustrated.

Pulling out my phone, I see that the power has been out for about four minutes. Looks like I better hurry up.

~~~
~~~

Roy

“There are lasers there,” I say. “He couldn’t have come through here.”

These idiots nod and scurry around as if they are chickens with their heads chopped off.

With a sigh, I walk off towards the dino exhibit.

As soon as I pass through the entrance, the lights all come on at once.

The change in lighting blinds me for a moment but I quickly pull my phone out.

The cameras are loading.

God I hate technology sometimes.

I keep my eyes up every now and then, scoping out my surroundings.

Nothing seems out of place. The skeletons of the flying dinosaurs sway every now and then.

Finally the cameras are back online!

Oh.

Zafiro is casually sitting on the shoulder of an Angel statue.

He waves at the camera.

I clench my jaw and immediately run down to his location.

Unfortunately for him, I am actually pretty close.

As soon as I run into the chapel replica, I see he is no longer on the statue.

I pull my phone out again, but I see he is missing.

Frowning, I walk down the aisle and look through the cameras every now and then.

“Psst, I think he’s already left.” A voice says behind me.

I think it is one of the idiots from before but when I look over my shoulder, I end up seeing Zafiro.

He is wearing the same black body suit and goggles. Well, he isn’t really wearing the goggles right now. They sit on his head, almost blending in with his black hair.

I see Zafiro has chosen to let his eyes be seen tonight. They are rather pretty, but also extremely creepy.

They are blue but not at all like regular human eyes. His are bright and I guess the way I would describe it is that it is not at all dulled down like regular eyes.

The fact he wears eyeliner really makes them pop out as well. I am sure he did not need to do that if he wanted to make them stand out.

The Thief smirks and then dashes back towards the Dino exhibit.

I immediately chase after him. I radio in to the other guards to let them know that Zafiro is headed their way.

“How have you been Tin Can?” Zafiro shouts back with a laugh.

I clench my jaw and just keep chasing.

“Aww we are being quiet tonight now?” He teases.

He vaults over a glass table that sits in the middle of the room. Since I can’t do that, I have to run around it.

That alone just annoys me.

Every small thing like that is only going to make this all harder.

Zafiro reaches into something attached to his belt and pulls out a handful of darts.

He is going to use that on me? He has tried this before and he already knows just how useless that is.

He places darts in both hands and then lifts his arms as if he is ready to throw them.

Zafiro turns a corner and then I miss out on what he is doing.

I hear shouting and the sounds of stun guns going off.

There are moans of people falling asleep and the sounds of people hitting the ground.

Reaching the corner, I see that there are about six people sleeping. Not a single one of them is the thief.

Instead, he is running off down the long hallway. Right towards the lazers.

“Wait!” I shout. “Be careful there are lasers there!”

I know it was probably stupid to warn him, but I do not was him to die! I just want to send his ass to jail.

I chase after him but he does not slow down.

“Stop!” I shout.

Zafiro pulls his bag off from his shoulder and with a spin from his body, he throws the bag low enough for it to go without any harm from the lasers.

It must have slid beneath them just enough for it not to get burned.

Zafiro does not slow down as he flips, moves, and squeezes himself between the red lines that cross through the hallway.

He even climbs a bit up a wall go over some of them. He pushes off the wall and has to land on his hands.

With a strength that is definitely not entirely human, he launches himself with his hands high into the air and passes through a small circle that isn’t occupied by any red lasers.

There is a small hiss of pain as a laser grazes his hip, but he does not acknowledge it as he drops down to pick his bag up again.

I rush over and press the card into the switch that turns the lasers off.

I curse as it seems to take forever to make these damn things disappear.

So much for this trap. It was pretty much useless.

Good to know this asshole is pretty much a dancer when it comes to lasers.

~~~
~~~

Zafiro

Holy shit!

I hope that was on some kind of camera because I would love to see that from a different perspective.

Also, my leg feels like shit and I kind of want to cry!

I find myself in some kind of egyptian wing but Mr. Tin Can is right behind me to figure something out in my head.

Without thinking, I climb up a pillar and leap onto the curtains that hang from the ceiling.

I swing from one curtain to the other and it seems to make me go by a little faster.

I drop down and roll as I hit the floor to keep my momentum going.

Tin Can’s grunts can be heard behind me and I can’t help but laugh.

“You getting a little old back there?” I huff out a chuckle.

I hear him practically growl and I smirk.

Yup, very much a cutie in my book.

I glance behind me and almost jump out of my skin when I see he is right on my heels!

His hand is stretched out in front of him as he tries to grab me.

Not even giving it time to think about it, I pull out one of my two pistols and aim behind me.

It was a dumb choice, but I can’t exactly look behind me while I am running without slowing down a bit.

I hear a groan behind me and the Tin Can has his hands wrapped around the sides of his head.

Biting my lip, I look up at a window that does not have a panel.

Well, I have somewhat of an idea to getting out now.

Circling back and behind Tin Can, I take a deep breath and then run into a sprint.

Just before reaching Tin Can, I cartwheel and then crouch low to push hard with my legs. As my body lifts upwards, I also push off of Tin Can’s shoulders with my hands. Both of those send me flying high into the air and I land almost perfectly on the ledge to the window.

My foot ends up slipping and almost sending me back down to the floor with Tin Can.

I did say ‘almost perfect’.

With a happy sigh and I turn and look back down at Tin Can.

He has recovered and is staring up at me with a defeated look in his eyes.

“Aww don’t be so sad, Handsome,” I smile. “See you next time for our little date.”

I blow a kiss goodbye and lift the window up to leave.