In which Chester has a bit of bad luck.

Chicago was wonderful.

The house he was looking at was a nice two-story building, plenty of square-footage, a beautiful collection of art and sculptures scattered throughout. More interestingly, he knew that the wife had a keen eye for jewelry, and kept an extensive collection hidden in a safe somewhere inside the house. He'd spent three weeks scoping this place, and several others, and while he usually tried to make his hits as random as possible to avoid forming a pattern that could be tracked and predicted-- this particular house was too good to pass up, and it would only be empty for two more nights before it's owners returned from their vacation.

Chester was admiring the place from the sidewalk below, grinning, hands in his hoodie's pockets. He didn't know where the safe was, but that was okay. Once he got inside, he'd have plenty of time to search.

"Kotal," he murmured appreciatively, and vanished.

Inside, the house, was dark, quiet, and empty--until, just as suddenly as he'd disappeared, Chester reappeared, standing just inside the front door. He looked around and whistled appreciatively, before turning and heading towards the stairs without bothering to turn any lights on-- it wouldn't do for any neighbors who might be still awake to notice something out of the ordinary, after all. First stop, the bedroom, the first place he'd look for a safe full of valuable jewelry.

A man in his mid thirties wearing a black trench coat sits in the living room while admiring a few of the unique and surprising art pieces littered about. He scratches his at his chin, the five o clock shadow irritating him slightly as he then hears a noise. He stiffens as the sound is of someone moving inside despite hearing nothing coming from the door.

" Interesting.."

Magnus whispered as he waited a minute before standing up and making his way towards the staircase.

The thief paused midway up the stairs; strange... he thought he'd heard something. He held still for almost two minutes, listening; but he heard nothing, and assumed it was a cat outside or something equally benign. Shrugging, Chester turned and quickly jogged the rest of the way up the stairs.

He wasn't too concerned about making small noises like footsteps. The house was empty, after all. He knew of no reason why it shouldn't be.

Pushing open the door to the master bedroom, the black-clothed man finally shrugged his duffel bag from his shoulder, depositing it on the bed as his eyes scanned the room carefully. He turned in a slow circle, only briefly glancing back out the door he'd come in. Nothing obvious... He'd try the closet first.

Moving past the bad, he opened the closet doors and peered inside, moving clothes aside cautiously. He checked all along the back wall, but there was nothing. Well, this was only on possibility, and he had all night to look-- no worries. Shrugging, he tugged the closet doors back shut; it was best to leave everything exactly as it was before he'd come. He'd had thefts go unnoticed for days that way before.

Magnus could feel his body tense up as he had stopped moving along with the thief, the two minutes feeling like an eternity. As the thief continued on and jogged the rest of the way up the stairs, Magnus would wipe away several beads of sweat from forehead.

As he made his way behind the Thief Magnus would quietly make his way into a spare bedroom. Magnus would look down at his trembling hands and slowly steady them as best he can. Upon hearing the closet door open Magnus would steel himself and calmly walk towards the doorway of the master bedroom which he then stands in.

" This spree of yours ends...Now "

To his credit, Chester didn't jump too badly when the voice spoke. His instinct was to freeze, opening his mouth to speak-- but then he bit his tongue.

His duffel bag.

One of the reasons Chester had been so successful thus far was because he never left anything behind, not even a single hair or drop of sweat. His duffel bag, with who knew what kind of invisible evidence on it, was lying on the other side of the bed-- directly between himself and whoever had managed to catch him in the act.

He couldn't leave without it. He could try making a break for it, but that would likely get him shot if the man was armed. No, he needed to get a better grip on the situation first.

Baring his teeth in a friendly grin, turning his head just enough to get a look at the hero of the hour, green eyes narrowed. In this poor lighting, his face was probably barely visible; he hoped so, at least. He'd never been caught like this before.

He knew he should've gotten some kind of mask.

"Pardon?" he asked, as if they'd just happened to meet on the street-- not in a house that Chester had, technically, broken into. The man didn't seem armed, but better safe than sorry. He could have some kind of powers, after all.

Magnus would keep his attention focused on the criminal mostly, only looking away for a brief moment to learn the location of the light switch. After seeing it on the wall on his right, Magnus would quickly turn his attention back to the thief while lifting his right arm until his hand is level with the light switch. Magnus flips the switch upwards and soon the room is illuminated.


" put your hands on your head and turn around slowly..."

If the other man got a good look at his face, he would be in big trouble. Chester steeled himself; if he was going to act, it would have to be now.

The second the lights went on, and hopefully before the other man's eyes could adjust, he grit his teeth and whirled, diving for the bag. If he could just reach it, he could disappear and get away!

As Magnus watched the man begin turning around, he would grit his teeth and summon magical energies into the palm of his right hand which is still raised.


Magnus would attempt hitting the man by bringing his hand forward and firing a weak bolt of energy aimed for the torso of the moving thief, his eyes adjusting the quickness of the movement hampering his aim.

Fuck.

It hit him in the shoulder, a glancing blow, but that didn't stop it from hurting. It felt like he'd been punched-- strange, considering he'd been hit with what almost looked like a bolt of lightning-- and it knocked him off course, stumbling over the corner of the bed.

Biting back a curse, Chester lunged one more time, and this time managed to grab the strap of his bag. "Kotal!" he spat, wasting no more time, and just like that, he vanished.

In the ghost-like other realm, the thief sank right through the floor, the pain in his arm-- no way that wasn't going to leave a nasty bruise-- making it impossible to focus. Hitting the ground floor hurt, but it could've been worse. The house could've had a basement. Stumbling to his feet, he ran straight towards the front of the house, through the wall, and towards the street.

If he was lucky, he could reach his bike before that asshole with the lightning-punch thought to look outside. But then, luck hadn't exactly been on his side this time around.

Magnus would look on in shock for a few moments at this revelation and quickly bolt out of the room. Magnus would get to the stairs and foolishly misstep due to his frantic pace and fall down the stairs. He would hit the ground below and let out a loud curse that can just barely be heard from the outside if someone listened hard enough.

" FUCK! "

Magnus winces in pain as he gets up and limps for the door. Magnus would grip the handle and take a moment to breathe deeply then open the door and step outside.

Chester was already almost to where he remembered leaving his motorcycle, several houses down. He shouted the second power-word into the emptiness of the ghost realm, and immediately, reappeared on the street, only feet from his motorcycle.

He grabbed the handles and swung his leg over it, wincing; if he was in pain now, he was going to be in it even worse tomorrow, but there was no time to dwell on that. He needed to be gone, like, yesterday.

Not a minute later, the engine growled to life-- not one of those loud, obnoxious motorcycles, but a quiet, understated sound. He'd chosen this sportbike and customized it specifically not to draw attention, after all.