RE:WRITE

35.0 Grayscale_Chapter 10: Dove

"Hey, have you heard about the incident yet?"

"What?"

"Someone robbed the Casso factory."

"The Casso factory? But aren't they-"

"Yep, they're contractors for Breize labs."

"Who would dare to steal from Breize labs? Are they crazy?"

"Ha ha, you haven't heard the best part!"

"What is it?"

"They were absolutely shameless!"

"What do you mean?"

"They stripped the guards and the manager."

"What for?"

"Don't know, but they seemed to be really happy when they did it. Gotta be a pervert."

"So they're crazy and perverted? How many of them were there?"

"Just one."

"One? Someone managed to get through a factory's defenses all alone?"

"Yep. The guy was wearing a really weird mask too."

"What kind of mask?"

"It had a smile on it. And he was wearing really tacky robes. Had a weird hat too."

"Yeah, sounds like a pervert alright."

"Old man Casso's having a fit. He only lost a factory's worth of slaves and equipment but offered 5000 Tel for the thief."

"5000 Tel? Has the old man finally gone senile? The great scientist Casso, finally going off his rocker because of a pervert. That's just sad."

"I hear you. But can you blame him? His reputation went down the drain. Do you know what they're calling the thief?"

"No."

"The creep left a note calling himself The Trickster."

"That doesn't sound so bad?"

"Yeah well everybody calls him something else though..."

"What?"

"The Stripster!"

Laughter broke out on the table behind us. I stabbed the steak on my plate with a knife and twisted it.

"What's the matter, trying to strip your steak?" said Runir with a smirk.

"Shut it." I retorted through gritted teeth.

"Men, women, and chicken. At least the infamous Stripster doesn't discriminate." said Amy, nodding with a deadpan expression.

"Not you too Amy?" I cried.

"I wonder what that poor old man would think if he knew that his badly dressed thief stripped poultry too." said Kai.

"And who's the bastard who gave me that stupid costume?" I glared at him.

"I pulled off the mask perfectly back in the Fire Kingdom." he replied. "And by the way, you can keep it. I'd rather not be mistaken as a crazy pervert."

"Fuck you!" I flung my knife at him but he grabbed it between his fingers and started using it to cut his own steak.

I sighed and leaned back on my chair. "Whatever. Did you get the laborers to safety?"

"Yep, I called in a favor. They should be in good hands." he said.

"And you still won't tell us whose hands those are?" I asked, frowning.