Chapter 85 – Planning a heist

'What a ridiculously crazy coincidence... Or I guess maybe an intentional design?'

The guy that Boss called Khalifa was like Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker rolled up in one.

And Lee knew him. Well, 'Lee Shin' knew him.

The moment that Lee saw the guy, he got a full flashback of meeting him as a kid and everything.

But more than that, the memories were basically what Lee remembered when he met Eddie Murphy the first time after his mom introduced them.

'I thought that Lee Shin didn't have anybody in this world, but I guess he was more like me than I thought, huh?'

Lee... or rather 'Li' was already similar to Lee Shin in more ways than one. Their general vibes and demeanors were already basically the same from the start, so Lee didn't have any trouble being Lee Shin. Especially when the memories just slotted so seamlessly in place.

Still...

"Man." Lee gave Khalifa a firm handshake and said, "Can't believe you're here though."

It wasn't the same guy. The relationships were different too.

After all, Li didn't personally know Eddie Murphy that well. But Lee Shin definitely knew this guy REALLY well.

It was also the source of Lee's mysterious income and how he had the complicated retractable spear.

Khalifa laughed and said, "Well, glad you're here too, Lil Man. Guess we'll be working together in the future... These two your girls then?"

"Oh, right." Lee wrapped his arm around Rachel's shoulder and walked her up. "This is Rachel, my fiancee. She proposed to me, actually. Crazy bold and competent lady. Almost too good for me. Almost. Not quite. And Rachel, this is Khalifa. He's my godfather."

Rachel rolled her eyes but leaned against Lee, not refuting him. Instead, she held her hand out towards Khalifa and said, "A pleasure to meet you."

Khalifa grinned and said, "Pleasure to meet you too, Missy. And it's Carter. Carter James."

Lee groaned. "Tell me you did not legally change your name to that."

Khalifa laughed. "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, Lee?"

"I swear to god, Carter, if you changed it just for the joke..."

"Well, you kept calling me cauliflower, Lil Man."

"Because your name is like only two letters from it! I was a kid!"

"Yeah. So, Carter it is."

Evandel held up her king-sized chocolate bar and said, "Kaliflower Choco King Bar! Chocobar! Hiyah!" After that, she started swing the king-sized chocolate bar as if it was a sword.

Lee noticed and chuckled. "The legendary Choco-calibar. Amazing."

Evandel's eyes sparkled and she nodded. Holding up the chocolate bar again, she said, "Choco-kabur!"

Boss massaged her temples and said, "Alright. May I ask why you suddenly showed up at our office building? On a Sunday?"

"Ah, right." Lee focused and said, "I wanted to ask if there was anyone who wanted to go treasure hunting with me, Rachel, and Eva. I've got some legendary artifacts and dungeons I want to look into. Will, hypothetical dungeons. I'm not sure if they exist yet, but I've got a decent idea. Also, I have potential intel on stuff in China if you're interested in not so legal acquisitions."

Boss paused. Then she looked at Droon and Khalifa.

Khalifa shrugged and said, "I'm always game for more loot."

Droon's eyes sparkled. "China... Albion could get stronger."

Boss looked concerned at Droon's reaction. But then she considered it and nodded. "I suppose we are free."

"Great." Lee nodded. But then he paused and said, "Where's Cheok Jungyeong by the way? I had some ideas I wanted to bounce off him."

Boss let out a long suffering sigh and said, "...He is in Japan."

Lee blinked. "Japan? Why?"

"...He wanted to find out if the Shirai Ryu clan was real."

"..." Lee stared at Boss.

"..." Boss stared back.

Then Lee slowly said, "But like, that's from a game."

"So is your lightsaber technique, but you made it work."

"...Fair. Anyway, we all up for treasure hunting then? We're with the future Queen, so it's officially sanctioned unofficially."

"...Sure." Boss grabbed her coat from nearby and said, "After I go get some food. I was in the mood for fried chicken."

Evandel suddenly perked up and said, "Chicky nuggies?!"

Lee laughed. "Alright. Food first, then back to Brittania- Wait." He stared at Khalifa. "Carter. Can you like, portal anywhere?"

"Anywhere I've been, Lil Man, yeah. Why?"

"...So. Hear me out. Hypothetically... what if we raid the Smithsonian?"

Khalifa paused and then slowly said, "...I'm listening."

===

It was a simple concept and idea.

After realizing that there were people in this world who were ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT in terms of just sheer physique and power, Lee wanted countermeasures.

And so Lee thought back to the reason why most people chose weapons like swords, spears, and things like that over guns.

From what he remembered, it was mostly because the strength and potency of a piece of equipment was based upon its origin.

Or in other words, the story attached to it and its raw materials... which included said story.

That was why most of the weapons and equipment used by Heroes excluded modern firearms: it was all manufactured instead of man-made.

Even if high-grade monster parts were used to create a gun, because of the fact that the process wasn't manual, it had a ceiling.

But the opposite was true too.

If something had a story behind it, even if the materials were mundane... if it was made by a master craftsman or part of history, then it was elevated to a higher grade of existence.

And, by virtue of Hajin not being American, he missed a critical portion of useful artifacts.

Namely, a large vault of the most famous guns in the world...

But that aside, there was one thing in particular that Lee wanted to pick up simply by virtue of its infamy and what it symbolized: The Hope Diamond.

Now, it was literally just a diamond.

After some quick research to confirm, the Hope Diamond was still on display in the National Museum of National History within the Smithsonian Institution. And, while it was a big diamond and still very infamous for being a cursed diamond that brought its owner misfortune, it wasn't an artifact.

Because of that, after Outcall, it was just in a storage room in the Smithsonian since gemstones were pretty much just decorative these days.

And so...

===

11 PM EST. Washington D.C.

A hotel near the Smithsonian Institute.

Because Rachel didn't want Evandel to think that it was okay to go 'treasure hunting' in museums, she had taken Evandel with her back to England to sort through some of the gifts that Cheok Jungyeong had apparently had shipped to Buckingham palace for Rachel.

Lee agreed with Rachel. It was definitely a bad thing to teach his daughter that it was okay to steal from places.

...But at the same time, it was the Hope Diamond. And there were just entire warehouses of stuff not being cared for in the Smithsonian that could totally be useful.

Especially if [Mana Manipulation] worked the way Lee thought it did after it was updated from his physique changing.

But either way, Rachel had taken Evandel back to England with her, and Droon had tagged along as both security detail and Evandel's play buddy.

...Not that Rachel really needed security detail at this point considering she could spam Gae Bulg as a spell and murder pretty much anything.

Still, that was fine.

Since the wifey and kid was accounted for, that left Lee free to have some personal time.

And as for what he was doing with that personal time...

Boss looked amused as she watched Lee put on a white morph suit before slipping on a black tuxedo. "I suppose this is one way to debut as the Seat of Black."

Khalifa laughed as he said, "Objectively, as your godfather, I should stop this. Buuuut."

Lee adjusted the jet-black necklace that Boss handed to him earlier and said, "But it's literally every guy's dream to raid the Smithsonian, right?"

"Hell yeah, Lil Man!"

Boss raised an eyebrow and said, "Explain to me again why it is necessary for the Chameleon Troupe to raid the Smithsonian when we have never maintained a presence there before?"

Lee tested the invisibility function on the necklace. Then when it worked, he nodded and said, "Two reasons. First... You said you want me to kill a guy, right? I've recently learned that some people in this world are outright bullshit and I need to get stronger. There are things that will help with that in the Smithsonian that people have been ignoring because they don't think outside the box."

Boss paused and then nodded, a smug smile on her face, like she just figured something out.

...Was she like Yeonha?

Lee kind of felt like she was misunderstanding something... but if it made her trust him more, he would roll with it.

"Very well. Then the second reason?"

"This is just a theory. But 'infamy' might have a tangible effect in strength."

Boss blinked. "...Infamy?"

Lee nodded. "Yes." He put on a pair of leather gloves and then said, "I've been thinking about it a bit recently now that Rachel and I are going to be official."

From what Lee remembered, Hajin was able to get stronger because he gained SP by standing out and could use that to spend on various things as the author of the world.

Lee obviously couldn't spend SP like that...

But it made him think a bit.

If the world operated on a level where narrative causality and weight made a person stronger...

Well, Nayun's grandfather was DEFINITELY the secret unbeatable boss character then.

But anyway, the point was that if it operated on those rules... which it must since that rule already applied to items.

Then that meant that if a person could have a strong enough 'story' attached to it, then that person would be able to gain the strength that story provided.

In theory.

...Lee definitely wasn't just trying to finesse anything from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint or anything like that. Definitely not.

But back to answering Boss's question.

"The power of names and symbols are very tangible in this world where myths and legends came to life. So... what would happen if we made a modern day myth? A scenario so unique and unbelievable that no one could replicate it? A legend in its own right?"

Boss stared at Lee. Then she murmured, "...So that is how the world fell in the future. Did the power of stories strangle the heroes of the present era...?"

...Okay.

Lee was 100% sure Boss was misunderstanding a critical facet of who he was.

Still...

'That's a good experiment too.'

If someone's perception of you was never contradicted and you continued to act in a way that cemented that perception as fact...

Would that create power too?

'I think there was a NovelPhoenix that played with that concept, right? Valhalla Saga... The champion of Idunn who was a pro-gamer or something.'

Either way, Lee wasn't picky.

Clearly, he had become too conceited in thinking he was already strong.

Almost pulled a Vegeta. That was no good.

So he had to make sure that wouldn't happen when it mattered... and the way to do that was to make sure he had a deck of trump cards ready to go.

Khalifa nodded and adjusted his infiltration gear, checking his loadout one more time. "Utility belt, grapple, smoke bombs..."

Boss looked over at Khalifa and then blinked. "...Khalifa."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"...Why are you wearing that?"

Khalifa, who had been changing the entire time while Lee talked with Boss, was now standing in a full and high fidelity Batman outfit. "Why else? If Lil Man is right, won't people be terrified of the Chameleon Troupe if they think Batman is a part of it?"

"...You logic is, unfortunately, very sound..." Boss sighed. "...Should I change as well then?"

"Hm..." Lee stared at Boss and said, "Do you know how to use make up, Boss?"

Boss blinked. "...Is there a woman who does not?"

"Great. Then it's simple. Just make yourself pale. And throw a white bedsheet over you."

"...Pale? Bedsheet?"

Khalifa gasped. "OH MY GOD. LIL MAN!" He pointed at me. "Are you going to turn Boss into the lady from the Ring?"

"Yep." Lee nodded. "Boss, your Gift lets you use shadows or something, right?"

"...Yes."

"Then it's perfect." Lee chuckled and then held his hands out. "Tonight... America will witness the birth of true Supervillains."

Khalifa grinned and immediately dropped his voice into a gravely Batman impression. "Batman plays by his own rules."

Boss sighed. "...Very well." She tossed a few spatial bags over to Khalifa and Lee. "Jain acquired those for us. They hold roughly the area of a small warehouse. The weight is reduced to one hundredth of its capacity. If we are doing this, we will go large."

Lee grabbed the bag and grinned. "Bet."

Khalifa laughed. "Oh, this is going to be fun... Especially since I can totally pull the Batman escapes with my Gift."

Lee gasped. "You totally could. You absolutely could. Just toss a smokebomb, use your Gift to portal around the corner..."

"Yep~"

Boss sighed and grabbed the bedsheet before rummaging for makeup in the hotel's amenities. After getting what she needed, she went to the bathroom to prepare. Although not before muttering, "Men."