Chương 14: Maxine
After they were done discussing the not-so-detailed plan to rob the literal Bank of Prime Elysia, Leo urged them to get ready quickly.
Ryu begrudgingly took the crew into her metropolitan-friendly car; she didn't like driving a mana-powered car, after all. The woman actually owned an entire garage of classic, electric vehicles. She preferred old-school to the pretentious, 'weirdly-shaped' magic vehicles. She despised the fact that many people took to the trend to own magic vehicles like a bunch of sheep.
To be fair, magic vehicles didn't require recharging and were definitely eco-friendly. So it should be strange that for some reason, it was not only Ryu who was disinclined toward this type of transportation, but it seemed as if the crew or even the entire organization took the same stance. Max felt like there was more to this than mere preference. But he didn't care about that at the moment.
He was currently at the backseat of Ryu's car that was gliding along the streets of the Metropolitan Area toward the bank. His eyes glanced at the blue-haired woman, sitting on the driver seat, who had her right hand rested atop a white mana stone embedded on the dashboard. This was the mana conductor responsible for maneuvering the vehicle. It was of a medium quality, meaning it was able to use just a tiny amount of Ryu's mana to excite a big amount of potential mana inside the stone, sending out that exact amount to generate enough kinetic energy to move the car.
Meanwhile, the woman had her eyes fixed on a holographic screen to her left, displaying the zoomed-in view of the map of Western Metropolitan Area. It was connected to the car's navigation system, causing a blue dot representing the vehicle to appear on the map. The holographic screen itself was projected from a tiny projector attached to the dashboard, powered by a small dark blue mana stone, which Ryu was also constantly supplying with mana.
She essentially was imbuing mana to both the kinetic mana conductor and electric mana conductor. This was not actually hard to do, since the mana stones only required a tiny bit from her to be activated, and Ryu herself was constantly gathering and recycling mana that was naturally attracted to her heart.
Even though she didn't have a Mage's Heart, she still had a Talent for magic, unlike the Talentless who resided in The Null Zones. So her heart still possessed the gravitational force to pull in mana, albeit rather weakly.
[So, does Debra know you're in The Revolutionaries?]
Max asked the question via his Iris that was being monitored by Lukas remotely. The boy had actually planted some sort of masking software in his Iris that could hide his location and prevent the government from spying on him. Max didn't really know how it worked, but apparently it was more effective and foolproof than a VPN.
[She does. In fact, she's also part of the organization. Who do you think provides the members with their Wands?]
Max raised an eyebrow. [Mages have Wands? I thought they didn't need to rely on mana stones anymore. Can't they just shoot lightning bolts from their hands or something?]
Like a certain lanky man who had chased Max around earlier that day.
[They can, but some of them still like owning Wands. After all, they help the mages conserve their mana. If the average human can activate Wands with ease just by using their measly mana, mages can absolutely do more than that, don't you think?]
Right. In other words, performing techniques using Wands was basically more efficient.
'It turns out that I didn't know anything about who the Rodriguez's truly were, despite being my only friends since my family died,' Max conveyed through his mental connection to Nami.
The fairy had immediately connected their minds again after they got far enough from Leo. At this point, Max preferred to have the connection established at all times. It just made him feel a little less alone.
'But they were still kind to you, right?' Nami responded. Her transmissions had grown a lot smoother, it sounded like.
'Yeah. Well, it's not like I don't have my own secrets. They don't know about my ability to see waves.' Max then decided to change the topic. 'By the way, why did you seem afraid of Leo?'
Nami was silent for a moment. She was still in his pocket, so he couldn't observe what kind of expression was on her face at the moment. After a few seconds, her answer finally came. 'I can't really explain it. It was as if she was aware of my presence. When you first met her, I could see her eyes glancing in my direction, for just a fraction of a second. Which is why I immediately flew into your pocket and cut off our connection.'
Well, that certainly sounded like a curious case. But Max had no way of figuring it out unless he directly went and confronted the leader of The Revolutionaries herself.
Nami suddenly asked, 'Would you like me to conceal your cultivation?'
Max's eyes widened. 'Can you do that? Wait, but Dylan said it would be risky for me since I haven't finished my first ring.'
'It'll be okay. For humans, they do need Insulation for that. But us fairies don't need it in order to mask not only our own presence, but also any being in our close proximity. This includes concealing your Mana Regulator, as well. It's basically a trick we can do with mana without resorting to Insulation or invisibility techniques common to humans. It's also totally harmless for you.'
Max fell into thought. Honestly, he was tempted. He didn't like remaining susceptible to any mage's scrutinization, after all. But if he accepted Nami's help, the crew and especially Leo would instantly notice his Mana Regulator suddenly being hidden without them teaching him how to do so.
That would make him even more suspect than he already was.
'Maybe not now. Thank you, though.'
About five minutes later, they finally arrived in front of a tower with the huge 'National Bank of Prime Elysia' sign built at the top, which glowed purple and gold—the colors of the country's flag. Ryu decided to park the car a distance away from the building, with easy access to the back doors.
The woman turned around in her seat and said, "Alright, you guys ready?"
Dylan, who sat next to her, nodded. He was currently in his disguise, wearing a long blond wig with a ponytail, dyed his eyebrows the same color, and stuck a bushy blond beard on his face. Right now, he was putting on an earring with a tiny dark blue stone embedded on it. It turned out that the man did own a Wand, but it had been hidden all this time. And the fact that it was in the form of an everyday item certainly wouldn't arouse any suspicion.
Sitting beside Max, Travis was no longer bald. He now donned a curly brown wig and wore fake glasses. The man didn't seem to carry a Wand, though.
As to Max, well, he had never felt more annoyed than right now. He might be tall, but his skinny body and half-oriental face with soft features were certainly a perfect fit for the disguise forced onto him by the crew.
He was wearing a long wavy brown wig, fake eyelashes, and soft pink lipstick; the latter two courtesy of Ryu. His outfit consisted of a white shirt underneath a brown fur jacket, paired with tight black pants. All of them were women's. Moreover, he had to reluctantly part with the comfortable feeling of having his hands wrapped in his gloves; Dylan would be keeping his Wand in his pockets. Max's only relief was that he didn't have to wear heels.
"Remember. If anybody were to ask who you are, tell 'em your name's Maxine," Ryu had instructed. "Oh, and switch your synthetic voice to that of a woman's."
Even Nami, who was back perching atop his head, was highly amused by his current appearance. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought he really was a woman, albeit clearly flat-chested. That was how perfect the disguise was! Only thing he had to work on was his posture and body language. They needed to be a bit more feminine.
After confirming their preparations were all set, the first one to get out of the car was Dylan, with Max following next, hooking his hand around the man's left arm. Max was supposed to act as Dylan's partner, but the two actually looked kinda funny since Max was actually slightly taller than the other guy.
Ryu had to stifle her laugh seeing the sight.
Meanwhile, Max had to keep himself from looking annoyed while walking. His left hand clutched a pink purse while his Iris was being bombarded by Lukas' messages telling him to softly sway his hips.
The two then arrived at the building's front doors, at which two guards were stationed, each carrying a scanner powered by an electric mana conductor. After being checked, they allowed the pair to enter the building. Max and Dylan really did appear like any normal person visiting a bank, carrying nothing suspicious. Or so it seemed.
Both of them had actually hidden a few items; Max's inside his purse and Dylan's slipped in his leather jacket pockets. These items looked like small plastic bags, with the ones inside Max's purse acting as his make-up bags. However, these were not ordinary plastic bags.
They were made of very thin and elastic but durable materials. Not to mention, they were able to be folded multiple times and still appear thin. Once unfolded, each of them would grow into the size of a big duffle bag. If all went well, these bags would be filled with thousands of mana stones at the end of the day.
Max and Dylan entered the hall where a few rows of people were seen queuing before the bank tellers. Those people weren't trying to withdraw cash; they were mostly buying or selling mana stones. The pair headed to a corner and pretended to have a conversation. Max was actually just bobbing his lips up and down, sort of like mouthing words with no voice coming out.
In truth, both of them were actually waiting for Travis to appear.
Two minutes later, the front doors opened, revealing the disguised form of Travis. Acting like a nervous wreck, the man approached a guard standing by a pillar and asked where he could consult a person about a problem he had with his General Credits. The guard was then seen pointing toward a section under a sign that said 'Customer Service'.
Travis' action actually served as a delay so that nobody would be able to connect the dots between the newly-arrived 'couple' and the incident that was about to ensue.
With Travis slowly heading toward the other section as their cue, the 'couple' sauntered toward the center of the hall. They maintained a neutral expression as they appeared to be approaching one of the queues.
But before they arrived, Dylan had to do his job. He had been aware of the cameras mounted on every corner of the hall, so he had to find a way to cover his earring. He tugged the arm that Max was holding on to, signaling him he was about to make his move.
Dylan then faked a smile and turned toward Max, prompting the other to also smile. Max grabbed Dylan's right cheek, effectively covering his ear with his hand.
Dylan's earring then glowed after he supplied it with his mana. However, none of the cameras caught this. A second later, an invisible surge of electricity erupted within the whole building, wiping out all the electronic equipment.
Since Dylan was a mage, he was able to tap into the electricity generated by the mana coming out of the stone and amplify it several times while performing an EMP technique. The electric field Dylan had created was so strong that all the electric equipment in the entire ground floor of the building and several floors beneath and above it had been rendered irrecoverable. It didn't matter that the electric mana conductors kept supplying them with electricity, as they were already completely broken.
Dylan didn't actually need his Wand to generate electricity and perform this technique, but it was just more cost-efficient for his mana to let the conductor do the generating.
In no time, the whole floor had lost power, shutting down all the surveillance devices. The lighting in the building was powered by light mana conductors, so the EMP's targets didn't include the lights. But that was okay. At least all the cameras were dead.
Now it was time for Max—or Maxine, to make his—or her move.
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