While Mercy Elaga was grateful to have a new life and not be in jail, she often felt like she wasn't getting a lot of respect. She used to pride herself over being one of the best cat burglars in her field. But one simple slip-up and her entire career became a joke. Converting into a bat Animalian had its perks, but there were still times like she felt like a laughingstock. Such as when she demonstrated how a thief could crawl into a side air vent. She made it easily before, thanks to her slender physique. But she had forgotten how much more curvy she was as an Animalian and her butt and bust had gotten her stuck. Reforming criminal or not, she felt like she should be getting a bit more respect from people.
When she had gotten a call about an old safe, she was dreading that she was being set up for another humiliation. But there were few elements of that story that intrigued her. An old safe could hold a lot of interesting things. Of course, 'Mr. Smith' was still tagging along. Mercy was really looking forward to not having to be tailed. Well, she had gotten used to her bat tail, even if it seems a little superfluous.
Arriving at the house, Mercy could see it was old. She spent quite a lot of time studying what kinds of houses were the best marks for robberies. This particular house may have been refurbished, might have had a few additions added on to it, but she could tell the architecture went back at least 200 years. That raised the level of intrigue: a house this old had higher chances of hiding something valuable. Her fingers itched a bit, but she was mindful that 'Mr. Smith' was also there. It wasn't like she would take the loot and run.
The door was opened by two average-looking people. "Mr. and Mrs. Zephyr?" asked 'Mr. Smith'.
"That's right," said Mr. Zephyr.
"You said you found an old safe?" asked the agent.
"Actually, our son did," said Mrs. Zephyr, "Zachery, can you come out here?"
A teenaged boy stepped out of the house. He had dusty brown hair, a little bit on the scrawny side, but Mercy guessed he was about 17 years old, maybe 18. His eyes lingered on Mercy but he tried looking away quickly. Mercy walked over to him and said, "So, Zack, can I call you that?"
"Yeah, uh, I mean, I kinda prefer that, with my friends and people," said Zack, trying to cover up his initial enthusiasm. Mercy could see his eyes darting to her chest before back to her face and she could pick up his increased heart rate. It was pretty easy to pick up that Zack had a little crush on her. It was a little flattering for Mercy.
"So, you found this safe while cleaning your parents' house?" asked Mercy.
"Actually, it's my grandparents. They said it needs cleaning up, even if I didn't want to do it," blurted Zack.
"Spring cleaning is a pain, right?" asked Mercy.
"My grandparents died recently," said Zack bluntly.
Mercy winced and said, "Sorry, it wasn't the pandemic, was it?"
"No, inoperable brain tumors," said Zack, "Still not happy about it."
"Uh, maybe we should take a look at the safe now," said Mercy.
==========
Zack had found the safe while cleaning his late grandparents' bedroom. He had moved a bookcase to dust around it when he noticed an unusual line in the wall. A bit more examination revealed that it was a sliding panel, concealing a hidden alcove. Inside was an old dusty safe. Mr. and Mrs. Zephyr doubt that Zack's grandparents ever used that safe, let alone known it was there. Mercy was inclined to agree. Judging by the thick amount of dust in the alcove and on the safe, this safe hasn't been opened in a really long time.
Mercy whistled as she looked it over. "Boy, they don't make them like this anymore," she said, "Haven't seen one of these in years and that was in a museum." 'Mr. Smith' raised an eyebrow. "It was in a display, not something I was trying to open," said Mercy.
"Can you open this one?" asked Mr. Zephyr.
"Shouldn't be too hard," said Mercy, "These old safes didn't have much more security than a thick hull and a combination."
"But how can we know what the combination is?" asked Mrs. Zephyr.
Mercy smirked and said, "Just watch." Usually, this type of job requires a stethoscope to listen to the tumblers inside as they clicked. But Mercy's bat hearing was able to pick up the clicks very easily. She paid careful attention as he heard the clicks that indicated the right numbers before twisting the dial the other way. Pretty soon, she heard the tumblers settle as the lock opened. Grabbing the handle, she pulled, the safe door opening slowly due the build-up of dust and grime.
While dust had gathered inside the safe, it looked like the contents were still in sound shape. Quite a few of these items were small bags. Mr. Zephyr pulled one out, surprised at how heavy it was. Untying the bag, he opened it up for everyone to take a look. There was definitely not enough dust to hide what was in the bag and it made everyone's eyebrows leap up. Mr. Zephyr stuck a shaking hand inside the bag and brought out a handful of shiny yellow coins. "Is...is this gold?" he asked disbelievingly.
"I can't say for sure, but I'd honestly wager that is indeed," said 'Mr. Smith'.
The other contents were quickly taken out of the safe. Along with bags of gold coins, there were old certificates that looked to be worth shares of gold. While it was uncertain if they had any value now, the silver ingots certainly did. While this was quite a big bonanza, there was the big question of where this came from and how did it get in the house. The presence of old firearms in the safe highly suggested this treasure wasn't acquired legally. As to who hid it, there didn't seem to be any way to tell, considering the Zephyr family hadn't moved into this house long after the safe was hidden.
Still, even if there were minor issues like legal fees and taxes, the Zephyrs will be getting a lot of money out of this find. Even the old guns were worth quite a bit to collectors and companies that specialize in manufacturing replicas. While there was still a lot of appraisals to be made, the total worth of the treasure was estimated to be roughly $1 million. Of course, a million dollars doesn't go for as much as it used to these days, but it could definitely make the Zephyrs very comfortable.
Quite a bit of this money was going to Zack, considering he was the one who actually found the safe. Most of the money would be going to a college fund. Though the way things looked right now, it didn't seem quite likely that he'll be attending college this fall. But Zack also made sure that Mercy was going to be getting a cut of the gold as well. She certainly got a significant reduction on her sentence. It seemed Zack had gotten rather attached to Mercy, considering how often he called her afterwards. He had dropped a few hints that he'll be using some of his money to pay for a double-dosed conversion. Mercy considered this attention rather flattering, but she was going to make it clear that she wasn't a woman so easily won. Not that he didn't have a good chance right now.