He was more or less an amateur when it came to things like identifying whether or not something was valuable, and how valuable. For him, the fact that the McHydal family ending up on the news about their break-in and the reporter on that case being absolutely unenthusiastic about the case showed that the items he took weren't too valuable. This would blow over in a month.<br/><br/>Climbing into the bus, he sat down in the back, pushed in the earbuds.<br/>Ten minutes later he was standing in front of a small convenience shop, or rather what looked to be like one.<br/>When you steal and sell expensive vases and pieces like that, you need to have someone who would examine and price the items you have, no questions of origin asked.<br/><br/>And Auntie Mint was that lady for him.<br/>She was an elder lady with a fake wooden leg, and a small angry dog that did nothing but scare away customers and bark its ass off to anyone and everyone until they bought something. It was like a really annoying alarm, except a lot more effective.  Lee should have been more or less used to it but it still made him anxious as hell ever time he entered the pawn shop.<br/><br/>Auntie Mint was sitting behind the counter, the small Pomeranian sitting on a big velvet pillow, and eating Chinese take out. She looked up from her phone from the nail tutorial she liked to play on blast no matter if customers were present or not.<br/>"Bathroom is for customers only" She said not looking up from her phone.<br/><br/>"Uh, right." Lee cleared his throat and went throughout the aisles and picked out a box of fruit tea, some weird snacks that had Cyrillic on the front and  toothpaste?<br/>Okay that'll do.<br/>Placing the merchandise on the counter, Lee cleared his throat and waited until she finally paused the video.<br/><br/>"I got some shit you might wanna have a look at." Lee said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I just want you to have a look at them."<br/><br/>Auntie Mint nodded, prodded her large red glasses up her nose and handed him the paper bag with his items.<br/>She hopped off the stool and moved to the backdoor; Lee followed, ducking so his forehead wouldn't hit the frame of the door.<br/>He handed her his phone, and crossed his arms, gently tapping his finger against his forearm.<br/><br/>She grunted in annoyance. He knew Auntie Mint only liked to handle what people brought in physically, but he was a smaller customer and with less resources so carrying around expensive jewelry and vases and other stuff rich people bought would put him in unsafe conditions, but thankfully Auntie understood that, and did price items at an approximation by pictures as well. It had the risk of her not buying some items because the merchandise wasn't up to par upon physical inspection, but it was better than nothing.<br/><br/>"Good work, they seem sellable.. uh, but.."<br/>Lee's swallowed. "Buts" were usually not a good sign with Auntie Mint.<br/>"This ring over here, I wanna take a closer inspection if you don't mind." He frowned but nodded, took his bought items, and left.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>What Lee didn't realize was that the ring he had stolen was a lot more priceless than originally thought.<br/>The ring was a family heirloom, one that the McHydal family kept safe with their very lives. It was something of a symbol of their power and status in the underground world and specifically their founding fathers of a secret society.<br/>Of course a long time family of billionaires would get enveloped in something like this. Money and good luck was attributed to their rituals that their society for the rich elite members of society did monthly. And without that ring, they were in danger of having their luck plummet.<br/><br/>Johnathan McHydal gulped down the aged whiskey and placed down the shot glass, looking up towards the doors. He had a meeting with villains and superheros alike, and twisted the story the way that would make them most likely get what was needed. Money and special permission to villains, and fame and a fake sob story to the superheroes.<br/>This time he was meeting with someone he didn't know but it was better to cover all of his bases before sitting down, getting drunk and waiting until the precious ring was brought back.