BXBX NOVEL Chapter 60: Vague plans For A Heist
—At the top of a small hill overlooking a road leading through New Freudein's environs—
"This is stupid," Tony said while leaning against a rock as he pulled the cork off his bottle of alcohol and took a sip.
"I agree," Henry said. He was only a few feet away from Tony leaning against a rock of his own. Nyx was by his side silently grazing on the grasses.
Tony grunted and cast his eyes down to the small cover of trees on the other side of the road where a group of men were hiding and waiting.
"Babysitting is not how I planned to spend my day," Tony said and stretched out the bottle of Alcohol to Henry,
"Want a sip?"
Henry eyed the bottle and took it from him. He studied the hiding men for a second or two before downing a gulp. It burned but it was the good kind of burn.
He returned the bottle to Tony who received it and grunted as he said in an annoyed tone,
"Don't know what he's thinking. Letting them join us."
The 'He' Tony was referring to was Angus Dionisio, the Leader of the Dionisio Gang, and 'Them' were the men hiding by the roadside. They were the newest members of the Dinionio Gang.
A week had passed since the incident at the Hadron Mansion and when they finally had their meeting that evening, the first thing Angus put on the Agenda was a need to bolster their numbers,
"We've lost so many today," Angus had said.
"They were the chore group," Charles had answered, "Let's not lie to ourselves, besides shoveling horse crap, they were not much help."
"Shovelling crap IS serious work," Henry had said with a smile.
"Point is, we're not gonna miss 'em so why add more?" Charles had said.
"Because we WILL miss them," Angus had answered, "For my plan to work, we will need more men and women than those currently in this room."
"And what IS your plan?" Stefan had asked.
Angus smiled,
"We're going to pull off arguably the greatest heist anyone has ever dreamed of devising in the countryside."
Angus let his words trail off suggestively like he was inviting a guess. Minds started working furiously and then Triss went from the look on his face to the purple gem pulsing on his chest and it was like a lightbulb went off in her head,
"You can't be serious," she said with a slight gasp.
"What is it?" Stefan asked since he still hadn't gotten it.
Henry followed Triss' eyes but even he was lost. Angus cleared it all up quickly enough,
"Oh, but I am. We're going to rob the Lord of the Black Manor, Maude Aleric."
"You're insane!" Charles said.
"You're mad!" Tony agreed.
"The same Lord that has been sending Vykers after us? Do you know how protected he must be? We've managed to kill, what, Seven Vykers? How do you think we'll fare when we face hundreds?" Dana asked.
Angus remained calm,
"I think we'll fare quite well actually. And no one has Hundreds of Vykers. That's not something even a Lord like Maude can manage."
"And you're sure of this, how?" Dana asked.
"Because I am," Angus had answered.
"What exactly is your plan?" Devon asked slowly.
Angus raised his palms to placate them so he could get into the details of his plan,
"The Black Manor is just teeming with riches. More than enough for all of our grand goals and then some, but it WILL be protected which is why we must first draw out some of that protection.
We have something Maude Alaric wants (points at the item on his chest) and he won't stop until he gets it back. It's THAT valuable."
"If it's that valuable," Charles had asked, "Why don't we just sell it?"
"We can't sell it because I can't take it off. I am bonded with it and it can only be taken off my chest after I die. Since I have no intentions of letting that happen anytime soon, we'll source the wealth elsewhere, and where better to look than the one who has it to spare?" Angus said and everyone went silent.
Tony broke the silence,
"So how does increasing our numbers help with this plan? A bunch of trash will die against hundreds of Vykers."
Angus smiled lightly and shook his head,
"Maude Aleric does not have hundreds of Vykers and who said those we'll recruit will be helping out on this heist?"
And on that vague note with hardly any concrete details of a plan Angus was likely just making up on the spot, the Gang began mass recruitment.
Henry was almost surprised by the sheer number of people who went on to join the Gang in the days since then. Just tens and tens of men and women who were happy to turn to a life of crime. The recruitment news traveling mostly by word of mouth was not restricted to the environs of New Freudein alone but the entire countryside.
The result was an increase in Dionisio Gang's numbers and a wide spread of their names. Henry was sure that if he was to return to the town of New Freudein, his face and that of the rest of the Gang would plaster the walls of the Sheriff's office instead of those of the dead Langlot Gang.
The Gang approached Angus about this but he just smiled and said it was all part of his plan.
Anyway, the new members of the Gang occasionally came forward with tips about jobs they thought would be lucrative for the Gang and since they were all still new, Angus appointed certain members of the Gang to always go with groups of new Members. To watch how they operate and offer assistance when needed.
So far, everyone else had done it. Everyone except Henry and Tony which brings us to right now and why they were leaning against rocks, sipping alcohol, and watching the newbies waiting for a mark.
"Do you think Angus has changed?" Tony asked suddenly after a few minutes of silence.
He passed Henry the alcohol again and Henry searched his mind and the memories he had inherited so he could answer,
"Yes."
The Angus in his memories was much more cautious. In contrast to Doran Langlot's loud Gangbaging all over the countryside, Angus operated and directed the Gang to remain relatively unknown. That had changed now.
"Why do you think that is?" Tony asked as he took back the alcohol and took a sip.
Henry shrugged,
"Who knows?"
"Bah, you know!" Tony accused, "We all do. It's that thing on his Chest. It's not just his eyes it's messed with. It's messing with his head too."
"Maybe," Henry said, "But he did kill two Vykers. Three actually if you count the one he killed before we arrived."
Tony shook his head,
"That's just it. He killed three and now thinks he can take on a hundred. He says no one has a Hundred Vykers but how could he possibly know that?"
"I don't know," Henry said and looked up the road to see a carriage chugging closer to where the newbies were hiding. He pointed at it as he said,
"But I believe that is why we're here."
"You might be right," Tony said as he looked at the Carriage too. It was certainly well made. Enough to qualify as a mark.
"What's the name of the one that came with the tip?" Henry asked.
"Tom— I think," Tony said, "Said it was a debt collector or tax collector… Some kind of collector, anyway. What matters is, he said, there's gonna be money.
So let's just get this over with."
Henry just nodded.
He agreed with Tony that this was a boring and almost demeaning job but he had something more to gain other than the satisfaction of seeing newbies succeed while under his supervision;
[Grand Quest Updated!
Main Quest: Supervise the Newbies.
Conditional Reward: For every Newbie that survives the job, you'll receive a bonus of 100 Exp.
Quest Reward: 200 Exp.
*Nyx will receive 50% of bonus Exp as well as the Quest Reward.]
According to the Quest details, even if all the newbies died, Henry stood to still receive 200 Exp but with six newbies on the job and a chance to receive a total bonus of 600 Exp, he was quite invested in their survival.
He watched as the carriage drew closer before one of them, (Henry assumed that was Tom. The one who owned the tip and was leading the job) stepped out of the cover of trees and pointed a rifle at the Carriage driver. Forcing him to a dead stop.