Visual Novel / The Heist: Monaco

Featuring: Lee and Sonia.

The Heist: Monaco is one of the many stories of Pixelberry's Choices: Stories You Play collection.

After being betrayed by a member of their crew, a master thief sees an opportunity to take down two enemies at once... in the form of the crown jewels of Monaco!

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The Heist: Monaco contains examples of:

• The Alcatraz: Chapter 2 introduces Trask Island, a secure prison made for people who they don't want ever being found. Even just getting in to visit Eris needed some work, and the security system shows prank calling the place would be impossible never mind sneaking someone out. Eris even tells her friends to forget breaking her out since her GPS tracker alerts them if she even sits at the wrong lunch table. Chapter 4 is about breaking Eris out.
• Alliterative Name: Miranda Moreau.
• Bad Actor, Good Liar: Peter Graves fits this trope perfectly. He's a terrible actor, but he's also a good grifter. According to Eris, he had two FBI agents arrest themselves while fleeing in El Paso.
• Bawdy Song: In one of the premium choices in chapter 13, you can ask your hacker to play a rap with dirty words describing explicit sexual acts after hacking Ansel's cell phone.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Plenty between Lee and Sonia, with the former often teasing the latter despite being on opposite sides of the law.
• The Big Guy: You have two choices of muscle. Mervin “Uppercut Jones” Kalani, a pro wrestler; Lena Ortiz, Ansel's former chief security officer and lover. She's also a premium choice recruit.
• Blinded by the Light: A premium choice for escaping Carlisle's penthouse in Chapter 1 involves taking flashbangs and throwing them. During that time you get heist points by either pushing him out of the way or swiping his wallet.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Ansel has Lee and/or their crewmates cornered at various points, but always chooses to gloat and monologue rather than calling guards to arrest them.
• Book Ends: Chapter 1 opens up with Lee hiding in the Caribbean when Rye comes in with a copy of Ansel's book, offering a chance to get revenge on Ansel. In the good ending (with a Heist score of 4800 minimum and 5000 maximum), Lee is running their operation in Carribean with Rye and Eris when the Broker comes in with a signet ring, offering a chance to be part of the Rooks.
• Borrowed Biometric Bypass: A non-lethal version of this happens for a premium option in Chapter 8. When the Grifter and the Thief fail to get the plans off of Ulrich Ziegler at the bar, they notice he left his glass behind, which means fingerprints. Scanning Ulrich's fingerprints means Lee would be able to craft a glove to get past security designed with his fingerprints coded in.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: If you choose the luxury safehouse in Chapter 6, Tillie sees the pool and wonders if she should throw a pool party or jump over the pool with a dirt bike. She decides to do both.
• The Cameo:
  • Sonia's ending has her talking to Agent Alana Kusuma about Lee's whereabouts.
  • Fabien's ending has an appearance from Mona and Teppei, as he easily beats Salazar in a race.
  • Sybil's ending features her aboard the Ember of the Sea talking to Chaz.
  • Graves's good ending features him starring in a movie directed by Tommy Phelps. His bad ending features him on America's Most Eligible talking to Carson Stewart.
• Casino Episode: Chapter 8 has the gang infiltrating the Royal Ruby Casino to steal the plans to the safe for the Crown Jewels off of Ulrich Ziegler.
• Chairman of the Brawl: At the wrestling show in Chapter 2, one one the options is to let Uppercut Jones have your chair to smack against his opponent's back.
• Chekhov's Armoury: The big heist is when all the premium items you've recovered during your time with each specialist starts paying off. Chapter 14 has the precision tools from Ulrich Ziegler's mansion used by the Thief to break into the vault and Ansel's phone if it was hacked in the previous chapter to keep him from calling security when he's kidnapped by Driver. Chapter 15 is has the Triton armor used by the Muscle as a bulletproof shield during the escape. The fingerprint glove is used to access a hidden tunnel and the car is used to escape from the palace.
• Chekhov's Gunman: If you had taken the premium choice to free Whisper way back in Chapter 4, she will appear to help you in the final heist posing as Carlisle's wedding planner.
• Chess Motif: The Rooks are this by using chess rooks as their calling card.
• *Click* Hello: At the end of Chapter 4, just as Lee's about to get on a speedboat to get off Trask Island, he's greeted to this by Sonia, Ansel's chief security officer.
• Cool Car: Tristan Dumont has a personally customized car that can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 2.2 seconds. Getting it as a reward for winning the race is a premium choice.
• The Cracker: Two choices for your hacker are this. Anton Edison, a teen prodigy; Samira Yazdi, aka “Blackbird,” a revolutionary hacker who's retired to suburbia.
• A Day in the Limelight: While there's a large gang, each chapter provides a chance for each member of the gang to show their talents as well as for Lee to build trust with them. Chapter 7 is the Thief, but even moreso if you recruited Niles. Chapter 8 is for the Grifter, though if you recruited Miranda, she has a bonus scene with Princess Marguerite. Chapter 11 is for the Muscle; if you recruited Lena, you learn more about her military background and why she acts aloof towards the rest of the team. Chapter 12 is for the Driver, and Chapter 13 is for the Hacker.
• Demolitions Expert: Eris was this to the gang before Ansel's betrayal.
• Downer Beginning: It's all of chapter 1. The story begins with the crew going to steal Carlisle's most valuable gem until Ansel betrays the group, Eris is arrested and Lee and Rye are forced into hiding.
• Drinking Contest: Lena Ortiz is introduced winning a drinking contest against a biker and still remaining sober enough to fight them off with or without Lee's help.
• Easily Forgiven: Princess Marguerite is surprisingly forgiving to Miranda for helping thieves steal her family's crown jewels, even if she wasn't on very good terms with them either.
• Enemy Mine: Chapter 5 has Lee and Sonia having to work with each other to survive on a deserted island. Lee can also use this opportunity to make friends with her.
• Face–Heel Turn: Ansel does this in Chapter 1, having been the one to let Carlisle know that his penthouse was being robbed, and also tipped the police to the gang's hideout.
• Flashback: A premium choice in Chapter 2 allows you to view the Barcelona Job, the first time that you worked with Eris.
• Fireworks of Love: In the premium scene of Chapter 10, Eris fires off fireworks and two of the options the player can choose is to give her a hug or a kiss.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Chapter 15 has one used as a premium choice as a way to get off the palace roof as well as give Heist points.
• Grievous Bottley Harm:
  • One of the things to hand Uppercut Jones during his wrestling match is a beer bottle.
  • Chapter 11 has a premium suit of Triton riot armor that gets tested by having Lee crack a bottle over the Muscle's chest, which they No-Sell to show how effective it is.
• Groin Attack: Also fitting with Meaningful Name, Bobby Low-Blow gives Uppercut Joe one of these during the match. Lena takes revenge on Ansel in the same way in Chapter #15 if she is recruited.
• The Heist: This is the genre for this story.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: As with all Choices characters, you can name your character anything, though the default name is Lee.
• Hollywood Hacking: It can happen three times during the story:
  • Anton hacks into a Corrupt Corporate Executive's cell phone and exposes compromising photos of him to all the cafeteria's customers using public Wi-Fi.
  • Samira invades Rye's cell phone and exposes to Lee the crimes that her partner started in the past.
  • Your hired hacker can hack Ansel's cell phone and divert all calls to him/her making Ansel run back to the palace on foot.
• Hypochondria: One guest at the wedding rehearsal dinner in Chapter 13 is this. You get Heist points by playing on her fears so you can clone her info.
• I Am Spartacus: Chapter 4 has the “Spartacus Scramble,” where multiple seagulls with tracking devices identical to Eris's are used to confuse the guards at Trask Island.
• I Have Many Names: During the three years since the gang split up, Rye has evaded authorities by changing names, jobs and cities every few months until he finally catches up with Lee. Chapter 2 shows that just before Blackbird revealed his real name, he cuts her off now that she's proved her point she's still got skills.
• Indy Ploy: The Barcelona Job in a premium scene in Chapter 2 shows that the plan to sneak out didn't go so well, so Lee and Eris had to steal the safe with them after blowing a hole in the wall.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Chapter 4 has the free option of infiltrating Trask Island be Lee and your Muscle coming in as plumbers. Maintaining your cover gives you a trust point with your Hacker.
• Jobber: At the wrestling show, Uppercut Jones is this for the indy fed he's in.
• Laser Hallway: The hallway to the safe to the vault has this trope played out where the Thief gets their chance to shine.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Eris says the trope name in Chapter 11 when it's revealed Ansel has hired Triton, an elite private security agency like the Pinkertons, to hunt down the team.
• The Magic Poker Equation: Chapter 8 has this between Lee and Ulrich Ziegler for an extra ticket to a masquerade ball. Ulrich's hand is a four-of-a-kind while Lee's hand is a royal flush.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Bobby Low-Blow lives up to his name in the ring, but is a pretty sympathetic and pleasant guy outside of it, as seen in Jones's bad ending.
• Modular Epilogue: The epilogue has one segment for each recruitable member of the crew and one segment for the original trio.
• Multiple Endings: The endings for each crew member change based on their Trust levels with Lee, with each recruitable crew member having a good and bad ending which can be unlocked. Lee, Rye, and Eris share an ending, which can be good, bad, or average based on your Heist score.
• Multiple Identity IDs: In Chapter 1's premium choice, Rye reveals that he had multiple identities during the three years he's been on the run if you ask him about his multiple identities.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Each role Lee fills is this.
  • The Hacker: Anton Edison, a Teen Genius wanting to step outside his father's shadow and make a name for his own, and Samira “Blackbird” Yazdi, a revolutionary hacker who has retired to suburbia while still maintaining her reputation.
  • The Muscle: Mervin “Uppercut Jones” Kalani, a Gentle Giant pro-wrestler, and Lena Ortiz, Ansel's former chief security officer and lover. The latter is a premium option.
  • The Thief: Sybil, a thief who specializes in Le Parkour, and Niles “Eddie Quick” Edison, an old pro and Anton's father. The latter is a premium option.
  • The Driver: Fabien Ahmad, a banned F-1 racer, or Tillie Marshall, an X-Games racer whose parties have cost her sponsorships. Both of them are love interests.
  • The Grifter: Peter Graves, a method actor who wants to join Hollywood, or Miranda Moreau, Marguerite's former friend (and possibly more) who hosts bogus charities to play rich donors off one another. The latter is a premium option.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Invoked in Chapter 2 if you tell Eris you could kiss her right now. She says they don't allow that, thinking you'd slip her a lockpick. If you take the premium choice to remember the Barcelona Job and have been romantic with her, she just breaks the rule and smothers Lee in kisses.
• Noodle Incident: If you didn't choose any of the preimium safehouse options in Chapter 6, Eris will mention a safehouse in the Prauge that Rye tell her to not talk about.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Lee can have this reaction to learning that the Crown Jewels are in a vault designed by Ulrich Ziegler, whose safes have never been cracked in 20 years.
  • Chapter 11 has the Driver give this reaction to Princess Marguerite announcing that all public roads in and out of town will be closed during the wedding since they had planned their getaway down to the last second.
• Playing the Victim Card: Carlisle does this after he's sentenced to prison when you get the Good Ending.
  Carlisle: "I only did what I had to do to get back on my feet! I was unfairly targeted by criminals! I 'm the victim here! ...Me!"
• Pop the Tires: During the last leg of the race in Chapter 12, Lee can use the gun in the car to shoot out Gino's tires, getting him stuck in a ditch. Considering they're riding shotgun with Fabien or Tillie, it shows they got some serious aim.
• Relationship Values: Chapter 3 introduces Trust Points which not only affect how each of the recruitable crew members treat Lee, but also determine what kind of ending they get.
• Replay Value: In addition to the multiple endings, the player can also replay the story with different crew members, each of whom brings a unique and distinctive personality to the story. It also pays to try out different combinations of characters, as certain combinations will trigger unique scenes and dialogue.
• The Reveal: Ansel tells Lee in Chapter 10 that the reason he got the drop on his old crew during the Carlisle heist was because Rye told him the escape plan.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: At Lee, Rye and Eris's good ending, The Broker reveals that Ansel's career is in ruins. He became unemployed, broke and nobody buys his books anymore.
• Roundhouse Kick: You can choose this attack as your signature move by training with your Muscle and Rye will be impressed to see Lee using this move in Chapter 15.
  Rye: (whistle) "- Damn, Lee... You some kind of black belt now?"
  Lee: "- Just a thing or two I learned from Lena/Jones!"
• Shout-Out:
  • In chapter 1, Eris says "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!" before being arrested.
  • Chapter 4 is titled "Go Directly To Jail." Also in Chapter 4, if Anton is your hacker, he describes Trask Island on the same lines as Azkaban, the Phantom Zone and Arkham Asylum.
  • A premium outfit for a male Lee in Chapter 9 is called “Phantom of the Gala,” which gives Eris vibes about another phantom in a good way.
  • If both Anton and Lena are in the team in Chapter 11, he wants to come along, especially since he can do a Batman voice shouting “WHERE ARE THEY?” Lena has the good sense to tell him no.
  • The title of Chapter 12 is “Not Furious Per Se.”
  • If you bought the premium outfit in Chapter 14, as the guard stops Lee, they can throw a fit saying they didn't fly halfway around the world wearing an Ana de Luca original just to crash a wedding (which they are).
  • In the bad ending, one of the possible options for Lee's undercover alias is Wally the Walrus.
  • In the good ending, one of the options for the gang's next big heist is the crown jewels of Cordonia, while another option is to steal top secret robotic tech.
• Small Name, Big Ego: If Miranda is with you in Chapter 13, she points out one of the visiting nobles is a royal fifth cousin who acts like the trope. You get Heist points and Hacker trust by wanting to take a selfie with her so you can clone her phone info.
• Smart House: Ulrich Ziegler's house is this along with its own AI that speaks to Lee and the Thief first in German, then in English after detecting the spoken language.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Chapter 4, Eris has no idea why the food exploded in the warden's face when she was on mess duty.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: At the end of Chapter 1, Ansel betrays the crew, ending with Eris' arrest. At the beginning of Chapter 15, Sonia can betray Ansel if she trusts Lee, helping the crew, thus becoming an accomplice to the heist.
• The Tell: Chapter 8 has the Grifter rub their left eyebrow to show Lee should call Ulrich's bluff in poker. The tell is a vein in his neck throbbing every time he lies, a sign that his blood pressure's up.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Eris says this when she is celebrating her freedom.
  Eris: "I'm free, bitches!"
  Rye: "Yeah, you are!"
• Too Much Information: If Lee is disguised as a reporter in Chapter 4, one of the options is saying they're an advice columnist for TMI. The guard at the station is asking about spicing things up in the bedroom when Devon cuts the guard off, saying they don't do THAT kind of advice.
• Triple Shifter: Uppercut Jones has bouncing as a fourth job along with wrestling and two others while he's scouted for the crew in Chapter 2. His other jobs involve dog walking and security.
• Trojan Prisoner: In Chapter 14, the Hacker is caught at an external access panel by security. Luckily, the Muscle is part of security and gets them into the palace.
• Turncoat: Sonia will turn against Ansel if you can gain her trust, which will help Lee and his crew escape the castle by distracting Ansel by becoming an accomplice of the heist.
• The Unfettered: Triton as a security agency is this with the mercenaries they hire.
• Vapor Wear: The dress Sonia is wearing makes it obvious that she is not wearing panties. She hasn't worn this dress throughout history.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: Sonia's reason for going after Lee in Chapter 5 is if they're captured, the gang will fall apart without them.
• We Need a Distraction: Chapter 4 has this be a choice on how to get rid of the guards at Eris's cell by saying there's either cake in the break room or a sprinkler malfunction. The correct choice is saying there's a fight in the yard.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 5 ends with the gang coming back to find their safehouse in flames.
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: It's actually the name of Chapter 1.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue:
  • Sonia has a meeting with Agent Alana Kusuma. A high Trust ending has her throw her off Lee's trail; otherwise, she volunteers to join the investigation.
  • Fabien's good ending has him handily besting Salazar in a race. A former associate asks him to come back, but he finds happiness in street racing. In his bad ending, he is chased from New York to Arizona and arrested.
  • Tillie's good ending features her opening a wildlife sanctuary filled with exotic animals. In her bad ending, she is trying to steal back her exotic animals from a zoo while being pursued.
  • In Sybil's good ending, she becomes a pirate and steals the Ember of the Sea. In her bad ending, she is pursued through a forest for stealing maple syrup.
  • In Niles's good ending, he is welcomed back into the Rooks and gives a prospective member a "The Reason You Suck" Speech before showing him the door. If Anton is part of the crew, he's finally welcomed into the Rooks. In his bad ending, he is forced to lie low in a nursing home.
  • In Lena's good ending, she takes over Ansel's security business, with them offering to pay her double what they paid Ansel, and is much more respectful to her employees than Ansel ever was. In her bad ending, she works as a mall cop and is fired for being too rough with shoplifters.
  • In Jones's good ending, he opens his own wrestling federation dedicated to self-improvement and good sportsmanship. In his bad ending, he joins Bobby Low-Blow's federation and is forced to adopt wrestler personas he is uncomfortable with.
  • In Anton's good ending, he finally works up the courage to ask out the barista at the cafe in Seattle. In his bad ending, he lies low and works for ClickIt and absolutely hates his job.
  • In Samira's good ending, she takes down a corrupt businessman's organization while enjoying her daughter's game. In her bad ending, she and her family are running from the law between soccer games.
  • In Miranda's good ending, she and Princess Marguerite have a romantic getaway in Paris. In her bad ending, she flees from federal agents in Monaco after her cover identity is blown, passing a note to Marguerite on the way.
  • In Graves's good ending, he moves to Hollywood and becomes a successful actor, turning the story of the Monaco job into a feature film. His bad ending has him going on America's Most Eligible and bombing horribly.
  • The leadership (Lee, Rye, and Eris) in a high Heist score ending are now running multiple heist crews across the world with them deciding what to hit now. The Broker then comes in and offers Lee a signet ring, showing they're open to joining the Rooks. Their enemies also suffer: Ansel's career and reputation are destroyed, while Carlisle goes to prison for corruption. The team's bad ending has them continually running from the authorities while things turn out great for their enemies; Ansel writes another best-selling book which restores his fame and reputation, and Carlisle succeeds in marrying a wealthy heiress and salvaging his fortune. In their average ending, they simply catch up with each other at an empty bar.
• Worst Wedding Ever: The big heist took place in the middle of the wedding that was being broadcast live, putting an end to the ceremony for Carlisle's unhappiness that he wanted to marry Marguerite for the status and reputation his companies could gain.

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