Corvayne saw the steel sign for Dolphin Back Office Park pop out of the brush as Grunt slowed the car down, turning them to line up with bank, a dark glass building sitting near the top of the island. Other minimalist structures dotted the manicured surroundings that had been hidden away in what looked like solid forest. Even the drive itself transformed as Grunt guided the car off the slightly bumpy road running along the hills and onto the silky smooth brand-new asphalt. To Corvayne it looked like a black river, flanked by uniform length grass and spotless sidewalks and all lit in harsh florescence by evenly spaced lamps and street lights. The lack of personality in the scattered buildings and sprawling parking lots struck Corvayne, having spent so much time in dense mis-matched urban settings that it ended up reminding him of a desert.

Wick sneered. “So glad I don't have to actually work in one of these dumps.”

Wick had given everyone black outfits in anticipation of the 'Bank Job'. Corvayne tried to explain to her that black was actually too dark and that for this work they wanted a dark gray, but then again Wick put on a black turtleneck and looked great in it so it wasn't all a waste. He liked the color black anyway, so for him they were another set of clothes.

As for the team, he argued they should keep it small since they were breaking into an office rather than the bank or it's vault. So it was Wick, Hari, and himself. Grunt had somehow caught wind of the whole thing and had set himself up as the get-away driver and his clear enthusiasm made it hard to say no. Corvayne hadn't thought he owned a vehicle but he had driven up in a blue monster of a car, wide enough inside for two Grunts or five of anyone else to sit comfortably next to each-other, and everything else sized to Grunt how most vehicles were sized to everyone else.

Corvayne looked out the back window at the nicer homes of Dolphin island, the rows of streets on both Mere islands, and the much more lively Ko-Ban behind them. Further south, Old Town blurred into the lights on the horizon save for a bar of light he was sure was the train station. He could see that if they had to run away on foot, there was a railed stairway on the opposite side of the road they could cut downhill on. Though, given the lack of other traffic or pedestrians here, they'd stand out like sore thumbs if anyone cared to check for them.

Wick sighed. “Should have taken a cleaning van or something.”

Hari cleared her throat, her voice raspy from overuse. “I can make us mostly invisible. Works on cameras. All types.”

Grunt took a hand off the wheel and pointed as his throat, then raised an eyebrow.

Wick looked between them. “That damn dress, wasn't it?”

Corvayne could see Hari squirming a little bit and answered for her. “She said she wanted to get used to it as normal gear.”

He felt his face flushing a little thinking about it. Forget the horns, the living dress was probably a true multi-million credit item. He was very glad that he had taken her out to the very nearly empty suburbs to try it, as otherwise she would have awoken the entire apartment complex and possibly the entirety of Old Town. No great surprise her vocal chords couldn't keep up.

“Can still cast magic. Use magic to get inside, works fine.” Hari weezed out.

Corvayne put a hand on her leg. “Hari, try not to talk... if it doesn't get better we'll have to ask Mister I for some medicine.”

Hari looked a little ill at the thought. “Urp. Nothanksyou.”

They passed by the bank. It was not the highest building on the boulevard, and beyond it Corvayne saw what looked like a seven story building made of a material darker than the glassy bank. He had seen it pop up a few times, and was once more struck at how ominous it felt. Imposing. It felt like the lights on it were just there to light up the clouds and drizzle around it, as the shape of the building itself was like a rectangular black hole. He tapped Wick's shoulder.

“What's the tower at the top of the hill?”

Wick pulled a burner phone out and tapped it. “It's the old office for Cascadia City Planning... not sure why the place would have a fence. Gah! See, if we were not leaving after this, that building is suspicious as hell! Why do they have a big modern building off on some fuck-off office park on Dolphin Island?”

Grunt grunted in agreement, but turned the car around and pulled over to the side of the road before they could get a better look at the tower. They had passed the bank but could see the taller part of the building over dark bushes as the car squeaked to a halt.

Grunt turned and tapped Hari, then produced what was certainly a Mister I special pill and pressed it into her hands. He then handed her a plastic lined paper bag, which Hari looked at then up at Grunt.

Grunt hemmed and hawed a little, then made a lurching motion with a hand cupped over his mouth, then mimed a fishing reel, then mimed cupping his hand again and tossing something in his mouth followed by drinking from a cup: It's for when you give up and use Mister I's medicine then throw up.

Hari laughed a little at that which irritated her throat. Grunt looked pleased with himself despite making a 'forgive me' hand motion/semi bow to Hari.

Wick took the borrowed Watcher cloak and tossed it on. With it on, she looked like the scrawniest Watcher he'd ever seen... if not for two days of non stop Hari he'd probably have been distracted on it.

Instead he was glad for fresh air and some sort of challenge that didn't involve trying to get Hari to take breaks. Hari rasped out a few lines of a spell that seemed to leech color out of the three of them, and Corvayne waited for the effect to finish then rushed across the well trimmed grass and between shrubs to the back of the three story bank. He could make out Wick and Hari as sort of faint images but the spell made it hard to see them even when he knew where they generally were. None of the motion sensor lights by the door activated, which was his other worry. Hari crouched by the side door into the bank and placed her hand on the electronic badge reader.

He couldn't really see Wick but he heard her. “Does it really work on e-locks?”

Hari let out a raspy laugh then hissed. “Ow. Yes. Tested. Quiet. Might be noise trap.”

A few more muttered spells and the light turned green. They opened the door and crept into a frigid air conditioned office. The décor inside was black and gray, with intermittent lights left on in the office so someone could navigate the main corridors. Inside the cubes were computers that glowed with idle power running, often adding to bliping lights that reminded him a little of eyes peeking out from dark bushes as seen on fantasy paperback covers.

“We are going up to the second floor of the office.” Wick whispered, then they moved over to the stairs. In the well lit stairwell Corvanye could see cameras watching the doors, but looking back at best anyone reviewing the video would see a faint outline of Hari, that is if the cloaks didn't cause everything to blur out. Which would possibly give them away if someone was paying attention to it right now.

That was all the more reason to move quickly. On the second floor, Wick turned to ask Corvayne a question.

“To make this faster, can you use your compass power to find a particular office? Blake Besting.”

With that prompt, Corvayne activated his power and lead the way to an office looking at the parking lot and front branch entrance, with a large desk laden with nick-nacks and a large screen on a tripod with a keyboard attached. Wick strode over and tapped the screen then typed a password. The clacks sounded loud even with the latent air conditioning noises. There was a pleased 'Ah ha!' as the computer booted and she clicked on a few icons.

“How know code?” Hari asked.

“Well, if it didn't work we'd have tested Corvayne's ability to find where the code was written, or your talent for unlocking, but I hacked this guy's home system by phishing him a keylogger and looked for a wrong password he typed when logging in. Found one he did out of habit three times, guessed it was his work password. Luck is on our side.”

Corvayne always worried about people who relied on luck, which of course got him thinking about having dozens of armed police chasing them through the cubicle maze and woods.

Wick cackled a little. “Got it! Rasputin Holding Corp are paying the funds for 'Hotel Cascadia inc'. Well, since we are here... let's look up which rich entiled bastard owns it.”

Corvayne tapped her still transparent shoulder. “We got what we wanted, right?”

Wick waved him away. Hari hissed. “No hit! Invis will break.”

“I wasn't going to hit him, but I want to know...”

She stopped. “Odd... RHC is a subsidiarity of Royal Successor Holdings of Tripic and Beyond. I've heard that name before...”

Corvayne was starting to sweat. “We really...”

Hari wheezed out. “Corvayne. Chill. Is okay.”

Wick then shouted “WHAT THE FUCK?!” at full volume.

A calendar fell off the wall, and the motion lights in the room popped on.

Corvayne looked out the window and saw a light bobbing downstairs, then flick towards the office they were in. “Wick, we are going. Now.”