The Neo-Metropol Heist

37: Artem

The weather wasn't exactly wishing them success as it began to spray a light drizzle over Artem's uncovered head.
He stood on the roof of Harry's building, dressed in a thick black winter coat to protect the expensive designer suit he wore underneath.
Around him, the entire team stood in a loose formation around two jumpcars, one was non-descript and designed to blend in, the other was a luxury piece made to stand out and impress.
Theo and Zakarias wore similar formal dress, Theo had even pulled her hair into a style that would be considered more 'acceptable' by the cultural elite.
Harry, Edward and Aphelion all wore dark jackets and trousers. Only Cad stood out amongst them with his bright white ceramic casing.
"I hope you're all ready," Artem said to them, "because if you try to back out now we have to kill you. Well, Cad does, I'm not getting this suit all bloody."
That raised a few grins from the solemn faces. They weren't scared, just focused. Ready.
"Once we've made the rendezvous with Pigott and collected the ship, we'll radio you. Aphelion will guide you through getting past the main floor as we're heading back until she's able to link into the building's security locally," Harry said, apparently for his own benefit.
"Uncle Harry," Artem said, "we've been over this a million times. Get in, find the loot, bust out. We're ready."
Artem put his hand on the big man's shoulder and smiled, receiving an unsure but warm nod back. From his left, Artem noticed a strange expression on Edward's face that he couldn't quite decipher.
"All right," Artem said, turning to face the whole team, "I'm not a speech guy. You all signed up for this. You all know what could happen, so I won't go into the specifics of the dangers of what we do.
"But you all know what the reward is if we can pull this off, and I think you'll agree that it most definitely is worth the risk. So, try not to screw this up and we can all go our separate ways much richer."
"You are most definitely not a speech guy," Theo said bluntly.
"You don't have to be when you're this naturally charming," Artem said, "let's do this."
Artem stopped next to Cad and nodded at him, "see you on the other side, right buddy?"
Cad put a long arm on his shoulder, mimicking Artem's action from moments before and simulating his body language in a way that was impressive, reassuring and quite worrying all in the same instant.
"Yes, Artem," he said, his voice as calm and as cool as ever. Artem smiled and the two parted.
The team split up and climbed into their respective cars, Artem, Theo and Zakarias taking the luxury car and the rest climbing into the car that was destined to be dumped several miles away.
Theo took the wheel and Artem shut the door as the car lifted away from the rooftop, into the rain, before settling into the traffic flow.
They said nothing to each other, even Zakarias stayed silent in the dim light of the car. It wound through the towers around them, heading towards midtown.
As they approached the Neo-Metropol, the random assortments of advertisements around them, affixed to every wall and even hovering amongst the traffic, began to solidify and become uniform.
The CastellsTech logo was etched into every corner of the city, displaying news and updates from the event proudly, even to those that weren't attending or possibly didn't even care.
Occasionally, the bright logo would flicker to marketing information about CastellsTech products, their service droids and cars, their medical equipment and mods. Then, the image would change to a picture of Sergei Castells, smiling warmly and opening his arms to the world.
The radio had nothing but news about the investor conference, so Theo thumbed it off with a forceful hand, leaving them in silence until the car banked around the final wall of buildings to reveal the Neo-Metropol, illuminated like a beacon to the stars.
On the ground, a crowd was gathered outside the entrance to the building, kept away by a cordon of barriers and security officers.
A red carpet led from the road to the huge doors. They watched from the car as another car settled next to the cordon and a woman and man stepped out, both dressed in formal wear and waving to the crowds.
Artem recognised the woman from some keynote speech or another, but he couldn't remember her name. She and the man she was with carefully walked up the red carpet and into the building.
"Let's hope these fake identities Aphelion set up are strong enough to get us in," Artem said, knowing that they would be. If anything was going to be the downfall of their scheme, it wouldn't be the fault of their genius hacker, "take us in."
Theo nodded and turned the steering towards the ground, lowering them into the crowds and towards the waiting security.
Artem's heart was in his throat as one of the men peered into the car and then opened the door.
A machine in the man's hand pinged happily as it registered the newly implanted fake identity chips in their sore palms.
"Ms Hood, Mr Villon, Mr Dismas, welcome to the Neo-Metropol investor conference," the man said, "please go straight to the doors and do not interact with the crowd."
The three nodded and stepped out of the car, one after the other. Immediately, cameras began to flash and the crowd began to shout.
This seemed to go against every rule in the book, there was now documented photographic evidence that they were there, ready to be used against them in a court of law.
The fact was, however, that they lived in a world where every step you took in public was recorded by fifty different cameras, the trick was never to be implicated in the first place.
Those pictures would end up at the bottom of a hard drive, never to be used or seen again - they weren't celebrities, they weren't famous. The bulb flashes were just a trigger reflex of the paparazzi.
Artem told himself to relax and lowered his shoulders as he stood up straight.
He glanced at Zakarias, and then back at Theo, who offered her arm in an effort to match the couple they had seen before. Artem took it and the three strode across the red carpet and up the stairs, into the jaws of the Neo-Metropol.
Inside, a line of scanners awaited them, more CastellsTech security goons waving more guests through.
They were shown through the scanners, passing through without incident, and found themselves in the open reception area of the building. The cavernous room seemed to stretch on for miles, much larger than Artem had imagined it to be from the plans.
They were greeted by a slender man with white hair and sallow skin, but a taut, drawn out smile.
"Ms Hood, Mr Villon, Mr Dismas," the pale man said, "my name is Israfil. I would like to welcome you to the CastellsTech Investor Celebration. Please, enjoy yourselves as esteemed guests of our gracious host, Mr Sergei Castells. The celebration is taking place in the event hall upstairs, if you will follow me?"
Artem, Theo and Zakarias exchanged glances as Israfil fluttered away, his steps as dainty as his manner.
Edward had mentioned the strange, white-skinned clerical workers he had seen when he had first infiltrated the Neo-Metropol, but they were much creepier in person.
They followed Israfil towards the glass elevators in the centre of the room, and stepped inside. Israfil smiled at them at the doors.
"Do enjoy your night," Israfil bowed as the doors hissed shut and the elevator lifted away quietly.
"Well, he was nice," Artem said, quietly, "creepy, but nice."
"What are they?" Zakarias asked, his voice muted, as they looked out of the glass shell at the other greeters across the floor, "they can't just be employees, they all look the same... they don't look right, do they?"
Not right wasn't a perfect description, but Artem had to agree. The way they moved and spoke, and the way they seemed to smile constantly with their thin lips and perfect teeth. They almost weren't completely human.
"I don't care what they are, but I don't like them and they better not touch me," Theo said sharply.
The reception floor disappeared and the elevator slowed to a stop, the doors opening, only to reveal another pale greeter, a woman with bright blue eyes that most definitely were not natural. Artem sensed Theo tense up.
"Good evening," the woman smiled, gesturing for them to step out of the elevator, "I am Sariel. Me and my colleagues are here to serve you, please do speak to any one of us if you have any queries. Enjoy your evening."
They awkwardly stepped around her and walked away from the elevator. Israfil and Sariel were angels, Artem recalled, wondering where he had seen that. What statement was Sergei Castells trying to make by having angels serve his guests?
The event room was slightly less impressive than the main reception downstairs, but it was still much more than a room and amazing in its own right.
It was classically themed, but Artem couldn't tell if it was temporary decoration or if the room had been designed that way. White marble was decorated with crimson accessories, and along the walls and between the crowds all kinds of impressive artwork was placed strategically to impress.
There must have been at least two hundred guests, all dressed in formalwear, lacy dresses and patterned, flourished suits. Artem and Zakarias wore comparatively simple classic tuxedos.
Theo's dress was backless, and for the first time Artem saw the tattoos that extended beyond her arms. It was an impressive work, he thought as he followed behind her, some were colourful, others appeared to be sad. Some he didn't understand.
"Okay, shall we mingle?" Artem asked as they grouped together amidst the crowds at the edge of the balcony that looked over the room, leaning against the brass handrail.
"Testing, testing," Aphelion said through their earpieces, "Black Hawk One reporting for duty. If you can hear me, have a conversation about how lovely the fondue fountains are by the buffet."
Artem smiled to himself, "I love the fondue fountains," he said.
"Who doesn't love melted cheese and chocolate in fountain form?" Zakarias replied.
Theo narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, "you two sound ridiculous," she said.
Aphelion sighed over the mic audibly.
"That's no good," she said, "I can see you through the security camera network. Scratch your nose if you're online."
Theo scratched her nose and sighed again.
"So, Villon, any news on the location of our business partners outside the city yet?" Artem asked.
Zakarias checked his watch casually and shook his head, "no, I can't say I've had an update from their people yet."
"We're back over the city, we'll be in position soon. I'm close enough to link into the building security but you'll need to crack the door that leads to the next level manually," Aphelion said.
"We'll get straight on that as soon as possible, then," Artem said, Aphelion clicked off and they split up into the crowd with a shared, careful glance.