[ WP ] A high-stakes heist in an unusual location for an uncommon prize .

This place was bigger, more convoluted and more treacherous than I could ever imagine. 
 
 Usually when I do my job, I would simply sneak up to the location, dodge a hazard or two, stay clear of the lazy guards and their invisible traps, hide in the darkness until the mechanized vaults go into pause or hibernation, then crack open the vaults with my tools and take the juice. The vaults' design oringinated from an ancient intelligence: they came in different sizes and shapes and implemented a holistic organic outer-shell without any opening, and sometimes they grew very long and thick needles to make our job harder. Until this day, how those precious treasure got in there still remained a mystery, and many had died in order to retrieve the viscous, luscious fliud that we call the `` juice''. 
 
 The juice had been playing a vital role in our feeble civilization for thousands of years, providing the necessary power and nutrition for everything that we were. Juice had been the only reason we could survive among this alien world full of creatures ranging from tens to thousands times our size. So all of us, after we grow up, must learn the skill of vault-cracking. Since we've been doing this for so many generations, all our children were able to pick up this technique really fast. The more easily accessed areas of vaults were located very high up in the mountains, and we used flying contraptions strapped to our backs called `` buzzers'' to get up there. After landing on the vault, we would insert a probe, make an opening with a pair of scissors, and extract the juice via specialized tubes. We could n't carry too much, but usually a good run could sustain one of us for at least a month. 
 
 The vaults were guarded by some octopods, flying monsters, and worst of them all, Gargantuans with five heads. Gargantuans were the vault's ultimate guards, each big as a montain, and they usually worked in pairs. They were n't the keenest to react, but once they caught you off guard every now and then, they would crush you before the wink of an eye, splattering all the juice you carry around your dead body. It was n't very likely, but a good many of us died under those brutal bastards. They definitely have some detection devices, antiquated but still worked sometimes. Most of us did our jobs quick and stealthily enough to prevent detection, sometimes the quick ones could even dodge the deadly strikes of Gargantuans, but still we lived our lives on the edge, all the time. 
 
 Now back to my mission. Our town was in desperate need of the juice. We had n't been able to find any vault easily accessible close by, as the mechanized vaults change places all the time. There was this one cave with reliable juice resources, pretty close by, that's been standing for ages, but many a good people had gone in that cave and never returned, thus earning the name `` Belly of the Gargantuan''. The few that returned safely would never talk about it, and refused to go back there. The Belly was not something I would consider going ever, but desperate times required desperate measures. I had no choice. 
 
 I almost died before entering the vault. I decided to sneak in during the middle of the night, yet a long ways away from the Belly I saw a searchlight. As I got closer thinking I was snearky, I suddenly felt an irresistible force dragging me towards the light. It felt so warm and smooth that I almost ran into an electrical fense. I snapped out of my stupor and found to my abomination, corpses of hundreds of my dead kinsmen lying miserably on the fense, and I almost became one of them. I turned around immediately, trying to break free of this force, and slowly but surely, I escaped its grip. That must be some kind of gravitational towing device that had claimed so many lives. 
 
 I flew around on the outside of the Belly, and looked for any kind of opening, and luckily enough, I spotted a vault being transferred into the Belly, with two hideous-looking Gargantuans by its side. I was obseving its movement closely, and a giant gate opened to allow the vault inside. I quickly activated my buzzers to follow the vault, and got inside just in time before the enormous, heavy gates shut tight behind me. Now I had entered the Belly, and there would be no easy way out. 
 
 The place was worse than I thought. Piercing light rained down from the ceiling, making everything visible. Vaults were visible too, but they're moving so quickly with a shrill and loud rumbling that almost deafened me. The wind caused by their movement sent me spinning in the air, totally negating my buzzer. I could n't hang on for much longer: had to find a place to hide. So I clang onto the bumpy walls of the Belly, only risking a little distance every time, until I finally found an area covered in shadows. I cowered up in a corner, waiting for my chance to strike. 
 
 Obtaining the juices were surprisingly easy. After what seemed to be forever, they shut down the lights and the movements in the Belly died down. I had to follow the faint scents of the juice, fly up to another level of the Belly, squeeze myself through some cracks between the giant gates and the walls, but finally, I was there. I hovered above two of the biggest vaults I've ever seen. They had gone into hibernation mode, which means I could collect as much juice as I could carry. 
 
 I was about to leave the vault and wait for my chances to get out when suddenly, a Gargantuan attacked me in the dark! It came very fast, but from years of experience I felt a familiar movement in the air, and dodged the deadly hit by a hair. I had never seen a Gargantuan react that fast when the vault was in hibernation. Suddenly the lights came on, I heard a screech from afar, and to my dismay, saw a Gargantuan weilding a plasma field generator bigger than our town, and he was looking for me. I had never seen anything like that, but my sixth sense told me that one touch of that thing and I'd be a goner. Luckily the blast from the first attack sent me far enough to hide away quietly. After a while, the screech stopped, the lights went out, and everything was silent again except the continuous rumbling of the vaults' mechanism. 
 
 I probably would n't die because the vaults stored here would be returned every night, but it's going to be a while before I could get back. I hope our town could hold on long enough for my return. 
 
 - Albopictus A. Culicidae III
