Getting the egg would be easy. The problem was getting it out.

A magically hidden, magically shielded, officially non-existent basement facility had seemed like overkill, five minutes ago, but now that Fang knew what was in the facility, he was surprised there wasn't more. No, I'm sure there is more. If there's even the faintest hint of trouble down here....

...

Fang leaned back against the wall, a hood pulled over his head as he held an active v-cig convincingly close to his face for any disinterested passersby to dismiss him as taking a "smoke break". Getting through the security had been easy enough - it was all scanners and computers, so he'd just waved something that looked about the right size through and let his magic tell the system to let him through without leaving a record. But the market zone was on multiple floors, so he was taking some time to assess the main level while waiting for his back-up to get into position.

Vanessa was sending Jade in through "official" channels - as official as illegal black-market venues went, at least, which Fang got the impression was a slightly larger version of being on the list at an exclusive club. And managed with heavily secured computers instead of heavily muscled bouncers, which he considered a major bonus. It was much easier to fool a computer with a light touch of magic than to talk his way past actual people.

...

Cyan contemplated the empty carton of milk on the table as he munched on a mostly-dry spoonful of cereal crumbs. Living, as he did, mostly on convenience foods and takeaway, going shopping for food was one of those things he never got around to doing until he was either bored, procrastinating, or completely out of food.

Today was going to be the last kind of day, it seemed, which Cyan was - as usual - kicking himself over. If the bonus aches he'd woken up to in his still-remaining limbs were anything to go by, the weather was going to be terrible... if it wasn't already. Glancing down at his wrist display, he brought up the current local weather, grimacing as it proved his suspicious. Cold, windy, rainy.

...

Cyan gazed gloomily across his shop, not bothering to hide his mood - the only other person there with him was Minmax, and they would notice and pry it out of him anyway if he'd tried. They'd been sitting in silence ever since the last customer had stepped out, Cyan trying not to brood and Minmax seeming perfectly content to just read.

"Hey, M." Cyan finally broke the silence.

...

"Ah-HA!"

Fang jolted upright at the sudden exclamation - not that he'd actually been asleep, anyway, but if he had... "Trace," he started, trying to sound patient, but didn't manage to get further before his erstwhile roommate spun their chair around to face him in excitement.

...

"---being such a pain in the ass. It has to be one of these places, I am one hundred percent sure about that, I've gotta just be missing something. Somewhere. If this sweep doesn't find something at least a little suspicious I don't know what the hell we're gonna do next. Maybe it'll---"

Fang let Trace's tirade wash over him, barely even noticing it as anything besides background noise as he scanned through his Ivy feed on his phone. Sharing a room with the team's resident hacker and said hacker's computer had taught him very quickly that they talked to themself when they worked. A lot. It was either "learn to ignore it" or "never sleep and quietly go insane" - and since the one option was been-there, done-that, bought-the-t-shirt, he learned to ignore it.

...

Fang didn't exactly make maneuvering the trolley look easy, but he certainly was making better time than Cyan had ever managed, even with the rain. It wasn't the kind of activity that lent itself well to holding a conversation, though, so the first part of the trip passed in relative quiet.

At the second intersection, while they waited for enough of a break or at least slow-down in the traffic to get through, Cyan glanced sidelong at Fang - only to realize that Fang was doing the same towards him, which startled him into a laugh.

...

"I'm going out on a supply run," Cyan said without preamble as he walked out of the back room and into the shop. "If there's anything that needs me specifically, it'll have to wait until I get back."

"So, tomorrow."

...

The delivery driver climbed out of their truck with a sigh, scratching absently at the back of their neck as they trudged around to the back. As they reached for the lock on the back door to the enter the code, before they even touched it - click, came the unmistakeable sound of the latch unlocking.

"Open the door," Fang murmured, just loud enough to be heard from around the side of the truck. "Then get in like you're getting a package."

...

Fang stood in front of the open refrigerator, wishing vainly for the third time in so many minutes that the contents of said refrigerator included eggs.

There were, however, no eggs. There were still no eggs. There had been no eggs in the refrigerator since they'd moved in, despite Jade having gone shopping three times.

...