It Happened One Heist

The King

"Margaret?!" cried Monkey Fist. "What is the meaning of this?! How did you even get here?!"

Maggie pointed at Wukong. "Your friend here gave me a lift. You should really travel by magical cloud sometime. It's fun! As for why..." She lifted her hand and held up the gourd they went to the trouble to get, its stopper open and the ancient pills rattling inside.

Wukong gave a good stretch and a few of his joints lightly cracked. "Yeah, it's great to be both out of that and the amulet."

"Yeah, you never told me how got in this thing, Your Highness," said Maggie.

Monkey Fist stepped forward. "I'll tell you. The power of the Monkey King amulet was because of him," he explained as he pointed at Sun Wukong. "He had been imprisoned within it for over a millennia and just over a month ago he had finally broken free. But he had to hide before the authorities at the Palace Museum could find him, so he retreated to the nearest vessel he could find."

Maggie rattled the gourd again. "Ah. I get it."

"But why would you do this to me, Margaret?! Why would you betray me like this?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe ancient artifacts aren't supposed to bounce around? Word of advice, Monty dearest. Maybe you should've fully briefed your partner on why you wanted this damn thing."

"Oh, I see how it is." Monkey Fist glared at Maggie and charged in front of her. "This is about me terminating our partnership after it was clearly at its end."

"Oh, so that's what you're calling it?" Maggie fired back. "'Cause we clearly had more than that going on, Monty! Or did you just want me for a quick screw before leaving?"

Monkey Fist blushed. "Certainly not! And I had not planned for that!"

Wukong glanced back and forth at the two thieves, an amused smirk on his face. "Ooh! Lovers' spat! I should've made snacks."

"Will you stay out of this?!" both Monkey Fist and Maggie shouted.

"Oh, sorry..."

Monkey Fist turned back to Maggie. "Listen, Margaret. I worked too hard for too long to take my rightful place as Monkey King!" He moved her aside, his eyes on Wukong on his throne. "And I will not let some petty human squabble stand in my way..."

He firmly approached the throne. "I challenge you for the title of True Monkey King, Sun Wukong..."

Maggie's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?!" She almost charged in to put a stop to this, but Sun Wukong held his arm out.

"No, no, it's all right." The Monkey King sprung from his throne and cracked his knuckles. "I've been trapped inside magical objects for quite some time. I can use a good workout." He grinned at Monkey Fist. "I can take on this wannabe simian."

***

They gathered outside the pagoda, Wukong's extended family and Monkey Fist's ninja horde forming a large circle around the two challengers.

Maggie sat crosslegged outside the circle, her arms crossed in front of her and her face tight in a frustrated scowl. As far as she was concerned, this fight shouldn't even have been happening.

The two opponents eyed each other as they circled.

Wukong stretched his tail. "Oh, you're going to regret this, human. Taking on an immortal monkey? Bad form."

Monkey Fist reached into the satchel tied to his belt and retrieved a flask, taking a swig of its contents before putting it away.

Maggie raised an eyebrow, while Wukong wagged his finger.