Gwendoline's heist crew

> "So, is it like in a movie film, where each one of us has a different skillset, and it's only working together that we can pull off that which needs the pulling off?"
>
> Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert, *Army of Thieves*

**Gwendoline's heist crew** was a small criminal team at the top of Interpol's most wanted list. They were the protagonist group of *Army of Thieves*.

## History

Gwendoline's team became infamous for committing five bank robberies in four years across Europe until they lost their safecracker. Vincent Delacroix of Interpol believed his team would have captured all of the crew if not for Brad Cage shooting him in the upper thigh, preventing his chase. They rose to the top of Interpol's most wanted list. Then Las Vegas was hit with a zombie outbreak, and it threw the banking industry into chaos. Bly Tanaka scheduled the decommissioning of Hans Wagner's masterpiece safes, so the team set their sights on cracking them before their window closed, using the zombie plague as a distraction.

### Rheingold heist

The Rheingold was the simplest of the Ring Cycle safes, and so would be the group's first target. Cracking the Rheingold started with setting up a security deposit box and scoping out the security for some time before the day of attack. When the day came, Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert was the first to enter the building under the guise of using their bathroom. Gwendoline Starr entered shortly after, pickpocketing security guard Joe's keys on her way in. She asked to see the dummy deposit box, while Korina Dominguez entered with a fabricated problem that would tie up the tellers. With the tellers distracted, Gwen picked up Sebastian from the bathroom so they could head to the Rheingold vault, and Sebastian began working on the safe. It proved no match for Sebastian's skill, and the pair loaded up as much money as they could.

Brad Cage entered to provide a second distraction, allowing Sebastian to slip back into the bathroom, then leave the building, and for Gwen to sneak back into the deposit box vault. Sebastian took his load of cash back to the getaway van and Gwen soon followed. As Rolph drove away, Joe searched his pockets for his keys, noticing their absence. This led to the credit union realizing they'd been robbed and alerting Interpol, who began the hunt for the heist group.

That evening the crew held a small party to celebrate their newfound riches before their next heist the next day - that of the Valkyrie. Meanwhile, the next morning Vincent Delacroix of Interpol looked into the Rheingold robbery and found footage of his nemeses, Brad Cage and Gwendoline Starr. Realizing their next move was likely the next Hans Wagner safe, he led his team in an attempt to cut them off at the Valkyrie.

### Valkyrie heist

The second Hans Wagner safe targeted by Gwendoline's heist crew was the Valkyrie, housed in NPIB Prague. This time Korina supported Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert and Gwendoline Starr by electronically guiding them through NPIB Prague's security protocols. She led Sebastian through a series of evasive maneuvers to throw off any security that might be watching through the video feeds, though his apparent disappearance between cameras was noted by security all the same. Sebastian and Gwen reunited at the elevator to the Valkyrie vault, and at the bottom they were met with armed guards. Gwen fought them off and bound them, then Sebastian got to work on the safe. The process was made longer by a minor slipup that put the safe in a warning state, meanwhile the guards continued looking into Sebastian's disappearance in their recordings and noticed he'd merely pretended to unlock a door, while it was actually unlocked for him from outside.

They realized someone must be in their system to unlock it for him, indirectly detecting Korina's presence, and issued a soft lockdown until they could investigate. Seeing this on her computer, Korina relayed the lockdown to Brad Cage, who launched "Plan B" - a traditional bank robbery as a distraction. He donned a mask, knocked out several guards with tranquilizer darts, and began to order patrons and tellers around to fill a bag with cash. Sebastian managed to crack the safe, and he and Gwen used the chaos of Brad's robbery to flee with the other bank patrons. Brad made it to the van and Rolph started it up. Gwen and Sebastian were not far behind, so Brad helped Gwen into the moving vehicle. When it was Sebastian's turn, instead of helping him in, Brad threw him back into the street.

The Czech police were quickly swarming the area, so Sebastian made a run for it. He found a man with a bike and tugged it away from him, using it to evade the police. They gave chase both by car and by foot, but he lost the cars in narrow walkways and the rest with the bike's superior speed, successfully making it onto a moving train. He made his way home, disillusioned at how his new life had ended and the realization that he'd have to return to his old one the next day. Arriving at home, he was surprised to find Gwen and Korina, who had split from Brad and Rolph and broken into his place to wait for him. They convinced him his adventure wasn't over, and the trio planned the final heist without the other two.

### Siegfried heist

The third safe in Hans Wagner's Ring Cycle was the Siegfried, located in the St. Moritz Bly. The day the safes were to be taken to Geneva was the final chance for Sebastian to crack it. The plan involved stealing the entire safe instead of breaking into the casino. Korina called the bank posing as an Interpol agent to inform them that the safe might be in jeopardy. The casino agreed to move up the time of departure to 3:30 A.M. to throw off any criminal plans, for which the heist team was prepared. Sebastian and Gwen stole the armored truck that was going to pick up the safe and picked it up themselves. Korina took out the agent guarding the northwest entrance and fabricated his check-ins so Gwen and Sebastian could pick up the safe without alerting Interpol. They collected the Siegfried and headed toward their escape route while Korina stayed behind to mislead Vincent Delacroix's Interpol team with prerecorded radio conversations between Sebastian and Gwen. Distracted by Brad and Rolph's arrival at the casino, Korina was captured by Interpol. She sent one final text to Gwen, telling her to run. Gwen sped up the truck while Sebastian worked on the safe in the back, and he eventually managed to crack it. They stopped the truck and began loading the cash into bags, when Brad and Rolph, following Gwen's phone GPS, caught up to them. Brad held them at gunpoint in a misguided attempt to get Gwen back, then attempted to shoot Sebastian. Gwen had already removed the firing pin, so she pulled one of the truck guard's guns on Brad and Rolph and tethered the two of them to the truck, taking their car for their getaway.

They arrived at the pier where their boat was waiting, but Vincent Delacroix caught up with them. Gwen gave herself up to clear Sebastian's escape, and so she was arrested. Sebastian changed his name to Ludwig Dieter and moved to the United States of America to be closer to the rumored location of the Götterdämmerung. Korina, Brad, and Rolph were also arrested by Interpol. With that, the group was forced to disband.

## Members

Gwendoline StarrBrad CageRolphKorina DominguezSebastian Schlencht-WöhnertUnidentified safecracker
(previous member)

## References

Shay Hatten (writer) & Matthias Schweighöfer (director) (October 29, 2021). *Army of Thieves*.