"Quantum-locked bio-case. Courier's hand is the key. He'll be at Elysium, showing off before the hand-off." Scarlet's fingers flew, and a hologram of the floating club materialized in the center of the culvert. "It's a fortress. Pat-downs, identity scans, biometric readers. The works."
"So we don't go in as us," Rielle said, sheathing her knives. "We go in as someone else."
"Bingo," Scarlet said, zooming in on a facial recognition scan of a woman—haughty, beautiful, with the vacant eyes of the ultra-wealthy. "Meet Lady Valeriana. Vacuous, vain, and terrified of wrinkles. She gets a weekly injection of a custom gene-tailored 'youth' serum from the Chrysalis Clinic."
Kara's eyes lit up with understanding. "And if there was a… contamination alert in her latest batch…"
"A catastrophic, cell-rotting, face-melting contamination," Scarlet confirmed with a grim smile. "The clinic would naturally send their top on-call biochemist to discreetly administer the antidote. Immediately. Wherever the poor socialite is panicking."
"Which," Nezra finished, "is a private booth in the VIP section of Elysium tonight."
"I'm the biochemist," Kara said, standing up. The healer was gone. In her place was a cool, professional operative. "I need an assistant. Someone who can look intimidating and handle… disruptions."
Rielle's answering grin was all teeth. "Disruptions I can do."
"I can't get you weapons through the scan," Scarlet warned. "It's too sensitive."
Rin finally looked up from her work. In her hands was a compact, wicked-looking device with a focusing lens. "They won't need them." She held it up. "Localized EMP emitter. Fits on the end of my barrel. I'll be on the 'Pulse Communications Tower,' half a click away. Perfect sightlines. I trigger a targeted energy surge. Not a blackout. A stutter. Lights, music, systems—they'll hiccup for exactly seven seconds. Long enough to feel like an eternity. Short enough to be written off as a glitch."
The plan crystallized, beautiful and terrifying in its complexity.
"The courier will be in the Aerie," Scarlet said, highlighting a secluded area on the top level. "Rielle, you can't get in. You need to bring him out."
"I'll make a scene," Rielle said. "A big one."
"During the stutter," Kara said, her voice clinical. "That's my window. I'll be at the bottom of the stairs. You get the case, you get it to me. I walk out like nothing happened."
"And I," Rin said, her voice cold as the void, "will be watching. If anything goes wrong, my next shot won't be at a power conduit."
The weight of it settled over them. A seven-second window. A single chance. No room for error. No backup.
"This is it," Nezra said, looking at each of them. Rin, the unflinching eye. Rielle, the unstoppable force. Kara, the unwavering calm. "You're not just thieves tonight. You're ghosts. Get in, get the prize, get out. And for fate's sake… don't get dead."