A loud bang rudely woke me up from my peaceful sleep and I shot around to the door, in which my – let's call him something like a best friend – Ruben stood, grinning broadly at me.

"Morning, Sunshine!" the brown haired greeted cheerily and strolled further into my apartment, looking around as if he was at a museum visit.

I checked my watch.

Five in the morning.

What the hell was he doing here at this ungodly hour?!

Except breaking my door, as I saw in the corner of my eye.

Ruben had wandered over to the counter separating the living area from the kitchen and picked up one of the knives that lay around the sink.

"It is five o'clock in the morning, Ruben. What the- What are you doing here?" I asked, sounding a lot less confused than I felt.

"You called me? Already forgot that?" he replied, "You said, I should come over because you had a job that required a little more personnel?"

He began to playfully throw the knife up and catch it again, as you would normally do with a tennis ball or something similar.

I knew better than to try and stop him because that was a wasted effort.

Twelve years of knowing him had taught me as much

A small sigh escaped me and I ran a hand across my face.

"Ruben," I started patiently, "I remember giving you a call. And yes, I asked you to come over. But the point is, and I am as sure about that as nothing else in my life, that I told you to be here at eleven. Eleven is the number consisting of two ones. Eleven is one hour before noon."

"So?" he said and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"It is five o'clock, Ruben. That means you are here six hours early," I explained, feeling like I was talking to a child.

"Better too early than too late," he shrugged and I groaned silently.

"You expecting someone else?" Ruben wanted to know and his black eyes were fixed on the remains of my door that hung open halfway.

"Why? No but," I began, but could not get any further before my friend hurled the knife, he had been playing with for the last few minutes, in the direction of the apartment door.

A sharp scream rang out as the knife struck the door frame just mere centimetres next to a copper-haired head.

"I did not expect you either," I finished my sentence quietly and shook my head.

"Ruben! Have you gone crazy?! You could have hit me with that!" our newest company exclaimed accusingly and pointed her finger at the tall young man with the tattoos.

Then she turned and stared at me, "Would you do something about this behaviour of his, James?!"

Allyson Cox had always had incredible timing, today more so than ever.

She crossed her arm banded arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow, giving me a demanding look.

I just raised my hands defensively, "What do you expect me to do? With him every effort is in vain. You should know that by now too."

"Hmpf," she grumbled but did not say anything more.

She hung her denim jacket on the cloakroom and left her shoes in the hallway before coming to me in the living area, plopping on the armchair across from me after moving some plans and sketches onto the coffee table.

"Did you invite someone else to the party? Because if you did, I would consider putting a warning sign at the entrance. Otherwise, someone may be accidentally murdered by Ruben," she remarked casually and looked around, "Nice place by the way. I like the fireplace and the stolen painting on the wall."

I resisted the urge to drop my head on the tabletop, closed my eyes instead for a moment and murmured, "Thanks."

Then I stood and turned towards the stairs that led upstairs.

I had not even gone up five of the steps before I changed my mind and turned to face my two guests: "No dead, no damage – at least no further damage – and nothing is taken or otherwise stolen from my property, you got that?"

I waited but no reaction came.

"You got that?" I repeated louder and now the two looked at me, slowly nodding as if I had frightened them.

I continued on my way a little quieter than before.

Not even half an hour later, as soon as I was standing in front of my closet to take out fresh clothes, I heard a loud rumble from below, closely followed by the sound of glass shattering.

As quickly as possible, I pulled matching clothes out of the closet and dressed, throwing the t-shirt on while running downstairs.

There I found a mess I would not have thought possible to exist in my loft: Ezra sat in the entrance, hand outstretched and gripping the key rack which he had ripped off the wall, an expression on his face as if he had never thought it possible to ever be in such a situation, Peggy, the unfailable thief who never stumbled, let alone fell, lay not a meter in front of him on the ground like a starfish and snorted unladylike, alternating between glaring up at Ruben and a snickering Allyson, still seated in the armchair.

"It would have been great if you had put up a warning sign at the entrance, James," she said as she noticed me and heaved herself up into a standing position.

"I thought the half-broken door was warning enough," I explained and shrugged.

"For normal people, sure. For us? No," she replied and put her shoes in the cloakroom, throwing her coat on my wing, even though she knew very well she should not.

"So? What are you up to that you need so much help?" she asked and fell onto the couch making it creak accusingly.

"That's an interesting question indeed," I heard Ezra agreeing from the entrance.

"Definitely," added Ruben and sat down beside Peggy, now curiously studying me.

Ezra, who had gotten up at last, walked over too and came to stand next to my best friend, mirroring his expression.

"I," I started but got cut off by Ezra.

"Spit it out man!"

"Yeah!" it came from Ruben.

"I mean, how bad can it be?" asked Allyson rhetorically and I raised an eyebrow.

"I plan on stealing from Aldridge Harland."

Deadly silence took over the loft and all four of them just stared at me, opening and closing their mouths like fish but not saying anything.

Peggy was the first to regain her composure.

"Not even I am that crazy!" she exclaimed and then tilted her head to the right, slightly reminding me of a puppy, "But it's an explanation for your call for help."

"I always thought him to be the sane one!" stated Allyson and shook her head.

"Do I have to worry about your suicidal tendencies?" Ruben wanted to know and I just raised the brow higher.

"I am not suicidal."

"Oh, you are if you think about stealing something from Aldridge Harland!" he shot back and I sighed.

"I am not. A client contacted me and I promised to have a look into the case. And, it's two things, by the way."

Ezra let out one of his best nervous breakdown laughs.

"So, you don't just want to steal one thing from the most dangerous man in the magical world but two because some random client asked you to? Did I get that right?"

"Basically, yes."

I shrugged and he gave me one of those Im-going-crazy-because-of-you-smiles he has got a patent on, paired with an unamused silent laugh.

"And you want us to help you?" he continued.

"Exactly. That's the point of calling you and asking you to help me with a case."

"Would it be possible to get a bit more information on that?" Peggy asked me and I nodded.

"Sure."

"So, tell me, Jim. Im all ears."

Rolling my eyes, I turned and shuffled through some stacks of plans and notebooks until I had found the right sheet of scribbled notes.

"I've had a meeting with the client yesterday. Okay, more like a few hours ago. Astrid Mercer. She told me about an upcoming exhibition. It's exhibits are all from Harlands own property, so he claims at least. Miss Mercer told me about two items that originally – and rightfully – belong to other people than Harland. They were stolen from their possession and went, over some unknown ways, to the hands of Harland. The exhibition starts in three weeks from now and after the start there will be no chance to ever get them out. In order to be returned to their real owners, we have to organise them before their transport to the museum which takes place two days before the grand opening."

"Okay, I think we can follow you. Go on."

"At the moment the two pieces of art are on Harland's estate, specifically the mansion."

"Okay, leave that for the moment. Which are those pieces of art we are talking about?" Ruben asked.

"A painting, 'The Rose of Ice' by Antonio McCarthy, and a crystal figure, 'The Beast of Saint Corwaine'," I answered and Peggys eyes went wide.

"Wait a second! Harland has 'The Rose of Ice' and 'The Beast of Saint Corwaine'?!" she asked incredulously, "I always wanted to steal them! I mean, they are something like the Holy Grail of every thief in the whole world!"

Now it was our turn to stare at her.

"Why are you all staring at me like that? Yeah, it's Harland. Most dangerous man in the world and so on but guys! We're talking about 'The Rose of Ice' and 'The Beast of Saint Corwaine' here! We would be living legends if we got them!"

"Have you lost your mind?! We are not going to be legends because we will die! We all will die if we try to steal from Harland. No one ever survived this! Do I really have to remind you of the fates of the last two? One was found dead with a hole in his chest and the other was never to be seen again! I don't want to end as an unidentified corpse in some dirty alleyway!" Ezra explained angrily.

"We won't die, Ez. You should know that by now," she responded.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really. I mean, we've got a big advantage!"

"Care to enlighten me?" he probed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"We have Jim," she only said and grinned, "He's the mastermind. The cleverest of them all as everyone knows. He isn't called the Black King for no reason!"

"Yes, she definitely lost her mind on the way over no further doubts about that, ladies and gentlemen."

A heated discussion with increasing volume started.

"Stop!" I called to make myself heard.

Silence fell over the room and I sighed, "I know what I ask of you. I knew even before I called you all. But the point is, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I will try the job. With or without you. Preferably with you but I've got a list of other people I can possibly call in instead of you if you refuse to take the job. Which I would definitely understand as this is incredibly dangerous."

"I'm in!" Peggy shouted and grinned like a madwoman.

"Before I make a decision concerning the matter at hand, I am interested in how you want to get any information on Harland, his estate, it's security measures or anything," Ezra voiced his thoughts and Ruben just nodded his head at that.

"There is an event at the estate in about three days. We would be in the mansion and could have a look on the security, the building, Harland. Almost all the information we need possible to gather on one evening. So, if Allyson would be up to it and creates us invitations, no problem on that part. Second, I had a look at the publicly available construction plans but those were hardly a help as there is almost nothing in it about security or anything like that. Basically, all I could get out of those plans are entries and exits but that's more than nothing for the start and can make the difference between living and dying if there is something going wrong at the party and we have to leave in a hurry. Third, I know someone who knows someone who works for Harland and could be a possible source on the topics. More or less. Fourth," I listed and interrupted myself, "Okay, there isn't really a fourth on that list at the moment."

"So, you've got a plan how to approach your suicide mission?" asked Ruben and I nodded, simultaneously shrugging.

"Okay, I'm in too," he announced and leant back on the couch, "Can't let you two do this alone. I remember vividly how that almost ended the last time. Im not exactly keen to repeat that."

Allyson smirked, "Sounds exciting. I can hardly miss that, can I?"

"By the way, what happened the last time?" she added a second later and fixed her gaze on Ruben who just raised his hands defensively.

"We're not talking about this incident. Never ever."

"Uh. That bad?" she chuckled and Ruben just answered soberly, "You have no idea. And you never will."

"Ezra?" I addressed the young man who had been silent.

He sighed, "I'm in. But if I get killed that's on you!"

Ezra pointed his finger at me and then clockwise at the others.

"Great!" I heard Allyson say and she jumped up, "I'm going to get started on the invitations. You have a template for me?"

"Organized just for you," I said and held out the invitation to her.

"Why aren't we using this one to get in?" Peggy wanted to know.

"Because it has a name on it and only gives a plus one. And if I counted correctly, we are five."

"So, Allyson has to make personalized invitations that withstand the control at the entrance?"

I nodded.

"On it. Do you still have my working materials?" she asked.

"Moved with me. Upstairs, door to the right. I repeat, to the right, Allyson," I replied and the moment I finished my sentence she just kind of disappeared.

"Ruben, can you see to it that Peggy becomes socially acceptable?"

My best friend nodded dutifully and I turned to Ezra.

"I know. I'll find something appropriate for them to wear in the meanwhile," he said and I bowed my head.

"And you?" Peggy asked.

"I'll do my usual mastermind thing."

And with that I took my cloak, put on my shoes and left the loft, heading over to my favourite bar and second working space.

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Hello everyone!

I'm back with a new chapter, obviously as this the end of the chapter and you have already read it. Okay, now that I'm thinking about it that sentence would have made more sense being written before the chapter I know it's been a while since chapter one but I didn't get to finish it earlier as I have been sick two times and busy with my studies. Hopefully there are still some of you who read this. As last time, let me know what you think. I'm grateful for every comment and any criticism.

Lexa