Saving the National Neopian Bank: Part Five

     The bank was such a source. They always had profits, and they were always so easy to steal from. But now, they were planning to leave. That just couldn't do now, could it?

     "So, was it Starfire?" he asked to the Blue Acara standing in front of him. She was dressed up quite oddly, with one of those thingamabobs that those guys in space used, not the cutlasses preferred by pirates.

     "Skyfire, scum, and you better remember it if you don't want to be on the receiving end of my blaster," she said.

     Oh no. Now he had gone and angered the lass.

     "Now, now, hold yer weapons. I was just askin' a question, that's all," the Governor said.

     "Okay, and just how much do you intend to pay me for this?" Ylana asked.

     The Governor sighed. Always about the money for some people, then again, he was a pirate so he couldn't really talk on that account, but still, some people just didn't have any honor.

     "How much did the bank pay?" the Governor asked.

     "They just wired me fifteen million neopoints," Ylana said. "If you must know, that's over thirty thousand dubloons. And I don't want dubloons, your currency seems to go into decline every single day. I want neopoints. Give me twenty million and it's a deal, I'll make sure that this rescue operation doesn't happen."

     The Governor stroked his beard in thought. True, he needed to keep the bank running on the Island, but at the same time, twenty million neopoints was quite the hefty sum. But then again, he did have a huge stash of dubloons, and seeing how the dubloon was deflating day by day, it would probably be better to exchange them as quickly as possible.

     "It's a deal, lass, just make sure that those bankers get the message loud and clear: they're not moving off of Krawk Island," the Governor said.

     Ylana saluted and left. The moment it came to hiring, she sure did respect her employers, the Governor thought.

      * * * *

     Mr. Roberts was preparing for the various meetings that the National Neopian Bank had to go through to okay the various other projects, after all, selling off millions of homes and their lands or setting up interest rates were not decisions that could be done overnight.

     He was however, confident that Ylana and her small army of robot soldiers would be successful in their mission. Initially, when he had been approached with the idea, he was all against it, but he realized that though she worked for Sloth, it wasn't out of any sense of duty. She was, to the very core, a mercenary, and so Mr. Roberts bought her services.

     Today, she and some soldiers would be leaving on a ferry to Krawk Island. He had informed on of his most trusted secretaries about the matter, and that Ylana and someone else would be approaching the bank the next morning dressed up as normal people, and that there they were to be given the special passes allowing them to charter an armed vessel to Krawk Island.

     There was nothing that could possibly go wrong.

      * * * *

     "Come on, Don," Hamond shouted. Wow, it was there first day of work, and they were already late.

     Sure it was nice getting a job at the bank, but what was the point of that if they were going to get fired on the very first day?

     Of course, Hamond did sort of feel like Mr. Richards hadn't bothered to explain everything to them properly. For one, were they supposed to wear suits? Hamond hoped they weren't, because if they were supposed to, they weren't since they didn't have any neopoints for it.

     The rushed over to the bank's entrance to see a Faerie Kougra standing at the entrance. She looked at them and said, "Stop. Did Mr. Richards send you?"

     "Yes, he told us to report here in the morning," Don said.

     "Very well," she said. She handed Don an envelope and said, "Everything you need to know is in there. So please get going."

     That was all she said before she walked inside.

     "Huh, that was weird," Hamond said. "Do you think she did that because we're staring at the bottom or something?"

     Don didn't say anything but opened up the envelope. "It has two passes and a charter for some boat to Krawk Island."

     "Krawk Island? But I thought we were supposed to be manning the desk," Hamond said.

     "I think we should go in and ask," Don said. But, he turned to see that the bank had a closed sign in front. He tried opening the door, but it wouldn't open.

     "Strange, maybe they wanted to close for the day so they shifted us to Krawk Island?" Hamond asked.

     "Maybe," Don said. "I think we should go to the docks anyway to check it out. But Krawk Island though, isn't that dangerous with all the pirates and all?"

     "I don't think it's that dangerous if they're going to send us there," Hamond say. "I think we should head over there and check things out."

      * * * *

     It had been a long times since Ylana Skyfire had found herself in civilian clothes.

     Still, she couldn't deny that it was refreshing from wearing military uniforms all the time. However, she could tell her subordinate, a Green Blumaroo by the name of Rex, wasn't so relieved. She didn't know much about Rex, as all he mostly did was listen to orders, but he was clearly having trouble blending in. Luckily, as they were in the bustling crowd of Neopia Central, no one really looked twice at them.

     The National Neopian Bank soon came into view and both of them stood outside the door.

     Five minutes passed. Nothing happened.

     "What's up with this?" Ylana asked. "Someone better get to opening this door before I really go crazy."

     Still, no one came. What was the deal with this. Ylana could tell something was wrong, had the bankers somehow learned about her betrayal?

     She flipped open a device she had under her sleeve and sent a short message to Mr. Richards explaining what had happened.

      * * * *

     Mr. Richards was taking a small nap in his office when something began beeping. He woke up abruptly and wasted several seconds in checking for the source of the noise until he noticed that it was coming from his coat. He put a hand inside and found that device that Ylana had given him, which was supposed to be a means of communicating.

     Mr. Richards was also sure that as it came from someone who had worked under Sloth, it was probably bugged in some way, so he was going to make it a top priority to destroy it as soon as possible.

     There was one video message which Mr. Richards played. It showed a photo of Ylana as she said,

     "What is the meaning of this? We're currently standing outside the National Neopian Bank, and there is no one here to deliver our tickets and charter. Have you renegaded on your agreement? If so, be prepared for the consequences."

     Mr. Richards immediately called for his secretary.

     "Did you give the package like I had instructed you to?" Mr. Richards asked.

     "Yes, I gave it to a Red Wocky and Green Ruki who came in the morning," she replied.

     Mr. Richards had been sure to tell everyone that the bank was closed that day, so that no one would come in the morning and interfere when Ylana came to receive those tickets.

     And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Yesterday, he had told those two neopets to report first thing in the morning. He had been so angry at Phil that in the heat of the moment, he had forgotten that Ylana was supposed to be there.

     That meant that those two had those tickets. In that case...

     "Is there something wrong, sir?" the secretary asked noticing that her boss had gone pale.

     "No, it's nothing, I just wanted to confirm that, you can take the rest of the day off," Mr. Roberts said. He didn't want anyone else in the building while he dealt with this.

     Once he was sure his secretary had left, he took out the device that Ylana had given him again and recorded his own message into it:

     "The deal is still on. It appears that my secretary gave them to the wrong people. They're a Green Ruki and a Red Wocky, but I'm not sure where they'll be headed too, but you should probably go towards the docks. Retrieve that envelope and continue the mission as planned. Only, don't do any permanent harm to those two, they aren't our enemies."

     Once he had recorded it, it took some time for him to figure out how to send it, but he succeeded.

     He then realized that he had no time to relax. If Ylana was going towards the docks, he should probably search somewhere else for them. If not the docks, they probably went back to their house. And then he remembered that they had opened and account with him, so he knew their address.

     He immediately rushed to access the database; there was no time to lose.

To be continued...