Im, Kaoru, and Mei ran through the hallways, secret pockets stuffed with six expensive gemstones and a few other valuable trinkets.

Dodging cameras, the three ran outside.

“WE GOT THEM!!” Im cheered, only to be smacked in the face with a familiar paddle.

“Oh,” Lien said stoically, “I thought you were a guard.”

“Owwww….” Im cried, rolling around on the ground while clutching his head.

Once the jewels were properly loaded into the vehicle, Mei sat in the van with Kasem and Cheng. Kaoru stood outside, eyes locked on the doorway.

 

Kiku drew his katana, “I’ll cover you, Yao-san, go!”

Yao nodded. With a split-second glance at his partner, he took off.

Kiku, running right next to him, positioned himself so he was between the guard and Yao.

The guard ran towards Yao, but Kiku cut him off, forcing him to use his gun as a defense against his sword.

“You’re good.” the guard said, “You must’ve been trained especially for this.”

“You’re skilled as well.” Kiku said, “You must be experienced.”

They parted, panting a bit.

By then Yao had made it to the lasered area. the guard shot at the Chinese man. Yao instinctively jumped into the line of a laser and triggered an alarm.

“Aiyah!” He cried, “Time to put on masks!”

Kiku let out a sigh, ‘I’m not young enough for this.’ He thought as he pulled on a Hello Kitty mask.

The guard looked confused and unsure how to react. “What the heck are you…”

“Long story,” the Hello Kitty samurai said, “And it was his idea.”

Taking advantage of his distracted state, Yao leapt through the last of the lasers and disappeared around the corner with his not-as-cute Hello Kitty rip-off mask..

Kiku sheathed his katana, “It was a pleasure fighting you, but now I need to escape.”

He turned and jumped through the net of red lights, landing on the other side without so much as a thump.

“And I thank you for not shooting me as well.” He said, before turning the corner as a bullet lodged in the wall where his head used to be.

 

The two ran outside, ripping off their masks as they exited the building.

Kaoru, Im, and Mei ran to greet and/or help them.

“Kiku! Are you okay?’ Mei asked.

The Japanese man, groaned, “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Mei laughed, “That makes you sound like an old man, like Yao.”

“Aiyah! I’m not that old, aru! Actually I am… I miss being young…” The Chinese man collapsed in the passenger seat of the van.

“Whatever.” Kaoru shrugged. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Everyone else piled into the van and the last door was slowly closing.

“All according to plan.” Kaoru said.

“Actually,” Kiku said, “All according to keikaku.”

The van’s door slid shut.

MISSION COMPLETE