Game of Thieves

Raptorus glared at news paper in his hands. “Mistress of Paint Portrait strikes again!” It read on the front page. It detailed the amazing theft of The Estonian Crown Jewels, by the thief known as Portrait, although the police were thoroughly convinced it was some kind of copy cat, as if such a thing was possible. Not that was the part the angered Raptorus, no he was glaring at a few words that were thrown around in the first paragraph. For you see, the paper had the gall to refer to Portrait, as “The World’s Greatest Thief”, and as if to put the nail in the coffin, Raptorus’s latest heist, was listed on the third page, with no word about him, despite him clearly leaving his usual calling card. Raptorus was appalled that some second rate cheater would be viewed as more skilled at theft than himself. And so he packed up his best suit and equipment and boarded a plane for England.

The art show was in the most generic artsy museum Raptorus had ever seen. The master thief nearly laughed at the clichéd feel of the whole thing. He wandered around, now wearing his tuxedo, talking to various guests asking to see Miss Grey in garbled English. Finally he bumped into someone who claimed to know the location of mysterious artist. Raptorus quickly handed her a note to be given to Portrait before rushing off. He had a wide grin on his face as he rustled through his pocket, so many wallets and yet not a single one was his own. As for his note…

“To: No class cheating thief Portrait

You’re no real master thief, you’re nothing but a clown looking for attention.

Want to prove you have real guts? Meet me at midnight outside the museum.

Wear your real formal wear.

From: The Greatest Thief alive

P.S.: Lady who’s reading this who shouldn’t be, I totally to your bracelet when I gave you this note, so suck on those eggs.

Raptorus silently glared a Portrait, watching sit on the steps of the museum bathed in the quiet light of nearby street lamps. He was surprised she’d been smart enough to plant a trap for him, the bracelet had some real bad juju going on or something, that or Coyote was lying again to get a good price. It was always hard to tell. Raptorus turned his focus back to Portrait, who’d no doubt have noticed him hiding on top the one of the building many flagpole decorations. He hopped down, not even his daggers making a sound. Covered all in black, with only his eyes showing Raptorus was the picture of stealth. And then he opened his mouth. “Are you some kind of idiot?” He asked with a huff. “When you meet a thief, you meet them on the roof, that’s the rules.” He raised his finger to silence Portrait before she could get out a proper response. “Whatever, just means this’ll be all the easier.” He grinned as he pulled out a poorly drawn map. “Right, we’re going to see who’s the better thief, me or you. The answer is me by the way. Now here’s our target.” He pulled out yet another large paper, this one with the image of a strange black gem on it. “The Soul of Shadows, a said to be cursed, you would know about that you b-, anyway, cursed gem that corrupts the soul of anyone who touches it.” Raptrous grinned under his mask. “We’re going to see who can steal it.” Raptorus smugly gave Portrait the map. “So you in or not.”