#8
Aohd flipped through a rather thick user manual for a closed circuit video system. He ran his eyes quickly over the pages, humming to himself before he turned the page. A few penguins who were helping to connect power cables for the monitors watched him, wondering if he was even reading everything, considering the rate he was flipping pages.
The hell phoenix eventually put the manual down and picked up a communication radio. “Rynac, this is Aohd. Are we ready to turn the power on?”
“Almost, I'm hooking up the last box right now,” replied the dragon handy man over the radio. A few minutes later, Rynac walked in with his bag of tools as he brushed some dust off of his jump suit. “Okay, all the transmitter boxes are up and should be working. Flip the switch and let's see if we got signals.”
Aohd nodded as he flipped the main power for the monitors. The room filled with a weak hum that grew in volume as the monitors all powered on. The phoenix smiled as he was now able to see most of the Order's complex.
“Looks like all the cameras are working. The nice thing about this system is that it's virtually wireless. If something goes wrong with one camera, you just need check the transmitter box and not check miles of wire to see what the issue is.”
“You are a damn miracle worker Rynac. Thanks again for the rush job” said Aohd as the two walked out of the room.
“No problem. But why did you suddenly need an emergency monitoring system?”
“Oh you know, crazed female ninja penguin wanted to jump Zzyzx's bones and it was just a pain to track them down the conventional way.”
“That a regular thing around here?”
“Happens more often than you'd think.”
Rynac looked down at Aohd silently as he wondered just how often something of that nature could happen. He decided not to dwell on it as he cleared his throat. “Well, if you are happy with the set up, I'll just collect my payment and be on my way”
“Right, here you go” replied Aohd as he handed the dragon a solid gold bar. Rynac took it from Aohd and examined it. He turned it in his hand several times wondering if it was real, when something caught his eye.
“Aohd, this bar is stamped with the iron eagle and a swastika.”
“Yeah, it's Nazi gold.”
“... Why do you have Nazi gold?”
“Well...”
** ** ** ** **
And elderly ram walked about his study. He had just set down a warm tray of fresh baked pastry to cool as he opened a newspaper. His peace was suddenly disturbed by the smashing of glass as several members of the order wearing special body and foot equipment slid in, brandishing sub machine guns.
The ram naturally jumped out of his chair in shock as Aohd entered the room in similar dress, also armed. “Okay boys, you know what we are looking for and you know the drill! Find it and let's blow this place!”
“What is the meaning of this?!” yelled the ram as he approached Aohd. He was met with the barrel of Aohd's gun in his face.
“You just stay put. We know who you are and we know all about your little collection of questionable historical significance!”
“It is perfectly legal to have a collection of the nature that I have! You have no right to break into my home and...”
The ram was interrupted by one of order soldiers who called out to Aohd that he had “Found it”. “Good job. Bag it and let's get the hell out of here!” Aohd called back while keeping his eyes and gun directed at the ram. The penguins each carried a small pack out on their back, exiting the same way they entered. The ram was shaking at this point as he had no clue what else the crazed looking phoenix would do.
“Okay old timer, here is what's going to happen. We are going to leave and you aren't going to report this or tell anyone about this. If you do, we are going to come back and...” Aohd paused as he sniffed the air, the faint scent of warm apples filled his nose. He turned his attention to the desk as he spotted the tray of pastry.
“Is that muldoshin?” Aohd looked at the ram again, who was struggling to speak. He was only able to produce a weak stutter before Aohd yelled: “Is that muldoshin?!” “YES!” replied a terrified ram as Aohd lowered his gun and walked over to the desk.
“Oh, that looks tasty. Well I'm gonna take this too. Sorry about your window old timer. I'm gonna leave you some money and the number of this guy I know. He does really great work. You have a good day now,” said Aohd as he picked up the tray and exited out the window, leaving behind a confused and disoriented ram.
** ** ** ** **
Rynac stared at Aohd, still holding the bar in his hand. The dragon started putting things together as he realized he had to install a new window across town after leaving the order.
“Wait, so let me get this straight. You broke into some old guy's home, took his Nazi gold from his collection, left him some money and my card, and are now trying to pay me with said gold you stole from my next client while you are eating what I can only assume is the pastry you also stole from him?”
Aohd was cutting into a piece of the muldoshin he had on a small plate with a fork. He took a bite and swallowed before saying “Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened”. Rynac shook his head as he handed back the gold bar.
“You guys are nuts, but I'm not gonna be able to take a gold bar, let alone one tied to the Nazi party. I'm gonna need cash, check, money order or some kind of card.”
“You're no fun,” replied Aohd as he took the bar back and took out the Order's check book. He wrote out a check for the amount owed and handed it off the the dragon. “So, I can call you if anything else comes up right?”
,
“Yeah, I mean you guys are crazy but you do keep me in business” said Rynac as he put the check away into a special section of his day planner. He gathered his tools and said “See you later Aohd” as he walked towards the exit. He ran into Ajana and Rika on the way. In passing he looked at Ajana and greeted her with a wave while saying “Hey there beautiful, I'll see you around”.
Ajana blushed as she waved back and replied “Yeah, see you around”. Rika looked at Ajana and could instantly tell what the doe was thinking.
“You do realize if you even tried to do anything with him, he'd split you like a log!”
“It would be worth it. I mean, did you see the horns on him?”
Rika lifted her eyebrow at the comment as she tugged on Ajana's lab coat to move her along. They saw Aohd who was still eating his apple treat next to the door to the security room.
“So we have security cameras now?” asked Rika. Ajana turned her attention to Aohd as well as she came out of her romantic daze.
“Yep. We are connected and watching. There is nowhere intruders can hide from big brother pengu. Well, almost nowhere. We don't have cameras in the changing rooms or showers. You know, privacy and such” said Aohd as he had another bite.
“What about the occult ritual area?” asked a concerned Rika? “And what about my research lab?” added Ajana.
“The occult room, no. The less we know that goes on there, the better. As far as your lab Ajana, we'll put a cut off switch for when you are doing your secret research. I think Big Z said the less we know about what you do behind closed doors, the better.”
“He's a smart bird, that Zzyzx”
“And he has good hearing” said Zzyzx as he walked up, drinking a cup of coffee from his mug with the Order's insignia on it. “Thanks for the compliment Ajana. So, how much did this system set us back?” asked Zzyzx as he opened the door to look into the security room.
“Don't worry about it Big Z. We procured extra funds thanks to the seal cult across the street earlier today. But we might have to smelt some gold to cover our trail...”
“Do I even want to know what the hell you and the tech boys found out, let alone did?” asked a concerned Zzyzx.
“It's for the best I don't tell anyone else what I did. Want some muldoshin?” asked Aohd as he offered the penguin a piece on a plate with a fork. Zzyzx looked at it and and perked up when he saw and smelled the warm apples.
“Ooh, that looks good” he said as he took the plate and tried some. Aohd offered piece to Ajana and Rika. Ajana politely declined while the young fox took the piece offered to her.
“Man, this is good. Where did you get this from?” Asked Zzyzx as he had another bite.
“Picked it up earlier while running an errand,” replied Aohd.
