"Good morning Paradise! I am your host, Wood Criollo, here with the Empire News Network (ENN) to deliver you today's top stories.

  First up on the chopping block, Empire officials announced a joint operation with Paradise to install a new rail line to the city. They report that construction on this rail line will begin within the next month, we will go over to our resident economist Dave for details."

  Arnimos sat on a chair watching the "TV" as John called it, it was playing some form of informative broadcast. He glanced over to the others, they were sitting around and resting. They had come into Paradise and found a safe motel to rest and take shelter in and so far no one had found them.

  "Are you sure it's safe here?" Arnimos said. "We've been attacked everywhere else we stayed,"

  "Paradise is too big a place for them to catch us easily," John said. "As long as we keep up moving we'll be safe,"

  Hilmas sat up from the bed.

  "Now that we are here," Hilmas said. "What are we going to do to get that Page?"

  "I've been thinking about that," John said.

  "Hopefully they are good thoughts," The Vishashi said.

  "Best ones I can come up with," John said.

  "Go on then," Hilmas said. "Feel free to share,"

  "Just give me a moment," John said.

  John stood up from his chair and clicked off the TV.

  "Hey! I was watching that," Arnimos said. "They might say something important,"

  "They never do," John said. "Now let's get onto the planning,"

  John walked over and grabbed a brochure sitting on a nightstand then sat down at a small table with it. He folded it out, it had a map of Paradise inside it.

  "Get over here," John said. "Don't want to explain this more than once,"

  The three moved over and crowded around the table. The map showed the city, it was divided into 3 sections each based around a major casino and at the center of the city there was a large raised platform with another casino on it that housed the Gambler.

  "There are 3 "parts" of Paradise each ruled by the 3 big casinos, the Rose, the Cerulean Gardens and the Levithan," John said. "Based on the folk who came after us, i guess that the rat bastard has teamed up with the crime family that runs the Levithan,"

  John pointed to one of the casinos, it and the city around it looked to be made of sleek buildings of glass and steel with the Levithan itself being a towering building surrounded by a large pool of water.

  "As such he's likely holed up in one of their suites but his Page is likely kept in their vault below the casino," John said. "In other words, if we want to get to either we're gonna have to bust on in,"

  "A heist," Hilmas said. "I wouldn't mind such a thing,"

  "Seems dangerous," Arnimos said. "I don't think we have the resources for such a thing,"

  "Arnimos is right," The Vishashi said. "Breaking into a place like that will take some serious planning and firepower,"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Well, I don't plan on us doing it alone," John said.

  "Oh?" Hilmas said.

  "The other rulers of the city would not be opposed to knocking the Levithan down a peg," John said. "Especially since they have a page,"

  "So we're gonna go to the other crime families and ask for resources to attack their rival?" Arnimos said. "Seems... Plausible, what if it doesn't work though?"

  "We won't just be relying on them," John said. "I've got a few more friends here in Paradise who might be able to help,"

  "Got a real crew for a heist, huh?" Hilmas said.

  John gave a nod then continued.

  "So, the plan's simple," John said. "Hilmas and Vishashi, they probably don't know much about either of you so you'll both case the place to find out anything you can. While you're doing that me and Arnimos will talk to the gang leaders and some of my old friends to get a nice crew together. Once that's all finished up, we'll bust in, steal the Page, kill the bastard then fuck off before they respond,"

  "Seems simple enough," Hilmas said.

  "It is something we should be able to do," The Vishashi said.

  "Why am I going with you?" Arnimos said.

  Arnimos shot a look at John who scratched the back of his head.

  "You'd be too identifiable, they'd know it was you," John said. "Also, the Cerulean Gardens has an Archon,"

  The three froze for a moment.

  "Huh?" Hilmas said.

  "There's another one out here?" The Vishashi said.

  "Another of my kind..." Arnimos said.

  John let out an awkward chuckle.

  "I didn't say anything about it because it didn't matter up until now," John said. "But since we're here and asking for their help i was hoping i could use our buddy Arnimos to get a better outcome from asking for help from the Cerulean Gardens,"

  "You should be saying when there is another Archon near us," The Vishashi said. "That's quite pertinent,"

  "Another Archon, huh?" Hilmas said. "Didn't think i'd ever meet another,"

  "I've never met another of my kind," Arnimos said. "Nor did i expect to meet one so soon,"

  "There's actually 2 Archons in Paradise," John said. "Besides Arnimos,"

  "2 of them?!?" Hilmas said. "This can either go very well or very bad,"

  "Are you hiding anything else?" The Vishashi said. "Are there 2 Personifications in Paradise now?"

  Arnimos sat stunned, there were only 20 Archons in the world and now 3 of them were in one place. Something big was bound to happen.

  John glanced away.

  "The head of the red light district under the Rose is a Personification," John said.

  They all stared at him.

  "This is going to be a mess, isn't it?" The Vishashi said.

  "Hey now," John said. "We shouldn't be going up against any Archon or Personification, there's just a good number of them in the city,"

  "Let's hope we don't fight them," Hilmas said. "I don't think i could beat one,"

  "I don't think I could either," Arnimos said. "I can still barely control my Dichotomies,"

  "Then thank the lord we don't have to be fighting them," John said. "Now we should get moving soon, don't wanna risk getting caught this early on,"

  "Agreed," The Vishashi said.

  "Yeah, let's scram," Hilmas said. "We'll case the place, you two go talk to some people and find us a place to rest,"

  "We'll meet you outside the Rose when Night comes," John said.

  Hilmas and the Vishashi nodded, then the two left. John turned to Arnimos.

  "Our first stop is some friends who I know will be in the red light district," John said. "You ready?"

  "What's a red light district?" Arnimos said.

  John grew a small grin.

  "Nothing to worry about," John said. "I'll be sure to show you everything it's got,"

  With that the two left towards the red light district and the plan to rob the Leviathan was set in motion.