Finding Nero

No doubt about it; he was stuck. No matter how he looked at it, the notorious Gentleman was, for once, at a loss for what to do.

His plan had been simple but effective. The Natural History Museum had just added new items to its archives: the collection of treasures of Nero Claudius. And to celebrate its new acquisitions, the museum was throwing a gala right above the archives. It was too perfect. So really he couldn't blame them for putting in a few extra precautions.

Facial recognition, armed guards at every point not covered by cameras, and the most in-depth security system he'd ever encountered stood between him and his treasure, and for the first time in his career, he couldn't see a way past it.

Reading a news article about the gala on his phone, he caught a glimpse of the head of security's name, and everything made sense. Katherine von Strapp. An old adversary he remembered well. Mostly because of how beautiful she was, especially when she had been "persuaded" out of that stifiling uniform. He could remember the headlines the morning after their first meeting, though not as well as he remembered the photos that accompanied them. Oh, the long-lost days of youth. Although it seemes Katherine didn't remember them as fondly as he did, judging by some of the scathing things she mentioned in the article.

That aside, she'd done a good job making her building Gentleman-proof. Everything had been tailored to keep him from the jewels.

Then, like a lightbulb, an idea came up in the thief's head. Katherine had made the place impenetrable to him, but what if he wasn't the one to break in? He wasn't above splitting the share, or making friends in his line of work. And he knew just the person for the job.