Raiders of the Lost Egg: Part 1

Raiders of the Lost Egg: Part 1

----- With Friends Like These... -----

(Note: This is a co-authored story with Bampot/Six)
(Also note: This story takes place shortly before Elona Bound, Chapter 2)

Kimura opened the doorway to the hideout and wrinkled her nose as she stepped inside. The air was stale and damp, a stark contrast to the warm, fresh spring air above in them in the city.

She made her way over to Plopp's workbench where the elderly asura was sitting with Barrox's hulking charr frame standing over him. Both were leaning over the work-space, each with a speaker pressed to their ear.

"You guys ever think about putting a window in h-" she started to say when Barrox's clawed finger shot out and pressed against her lips, shushing her.  She huffed, furrowed her brow and folded her arms, and waited for the two to finish whatever it was they were doing.

Barrox waved a hand at the console in front of them. "We're losing the signal!" Plopp quickly started turning dials. They continued listening as Kimura exhaled impatiently.

A slow, wide grin stretched across the charr's face. "It's there!  We got it!" Barrox exclaimed. Even Plopp showed the faintest hint of a smile on one corner of his mouth. Kimura shook her head and threw up her hands, having no idea what they were talking about or doing.

Barrox turned to her, a huge grin plastered on his scarred face. "The Egg! We found it!"

Kimura took a deep breath and sighed. She had hoped to never hear about the "Egg" again. As long as she could remember, the "Egg" was Barrox's white whale, a treasure that seemed more myth and legend than truth. He would tell her bedtime stories of the mysterious, massive egg-shaped, green hued gem that every collector, thief and fence spent their lives searching for.  Legend was, that the gem, insanely valuable itself, contained a map to an even bigger treasure, seen only when held to moonlight at a precise date, time and location.

It all sounded like a fool's tale to Kimura, but she knew Barrox and Plopp believed every bit of the myth. Barrox, in fact, claimed that a bag containing the Egg almost fell into his possession very recently, only to be taken by a rival.

Kimura blinked.  "Found it?  Where?"

"Right where I knew it was...the listening devices we installed across the street worked; It's there!" Barrox said, slamming a fist into his other hand. "Spurlock's Emporium!"

Kimura groaned. Spurlock was a shady, greasy, conniving little weasel of a man who ran a 'establishment' in Lion's Arch. The Emporium was a combination of a burlesque bar, a museum, and a place one went to get exotic and often illegal items. It also was heavily guarded and contained state of the art security devices; Queen Jennah's vault would be easier to get into!  Barrox, Plopp and Tressa had looked into breaking into the Emporium on many occasions (Spurlock was anything but a friend to any of them), but unfortunately, they always ran into dead ends as no weaknesses were ever discovered in the building's security.

"Barrox...Plopp, we talked about this to no end," Kimura said, once again throwing her hands into the air. "That place is impenetrable! And Spurlock...don't get me started...the sleaze-ball! The way he makes the women who work in his dump dress, he's nothing but a creep..." she said, making a face and shuddering. "Not to mention his goon squad in there!"

"Oh we're aware...that's why were not breaking in to get the Egg." Barrox said, Plopp swiveling around in his chair, nodding silently as usual.

"We're not?"

"Nope. We're putting someone inside. A mole...a plant...a worker. We heard them talking about hiring some new serving girls for the bar." Barrox said, his grin returning.

"Ok...but how is that going to work? Who are you going to going..." Kimura's face flushed at the realization. "Oh, gods!" she sighed.

Barrox's grinned wildly.

[To be Continued...]