The room plunged into darkness, and chaos erupted like popcorn in a microwave. Guests screamed, chairs toppled, and somewhere in the distance, someone yelled, "My focaccia hat!"
Milo fumbled in his trench coat for a flashlight. "Stay calm!" he shouted, clicking it on - only for the beam to reveal Mrs. Pennyworth clinging to a decorative salami chandelier.
"How did you even get up there?!" Milo exclaimed.
"I panicked!" she squeaked.
A soft chuckle echoed through the darkness. "You're good, Detective," Sandwich Sam's voice purred, "but you're out of your league."
"Show yourself, Sam!" Milo barked, swinging his flashlight around. All he caught was a flash of a chef's hat disappearing behind a curtain.
Milo gave chase, hurdling over hors d'oeuvres tables and narrowly avoiding a platter of deviled eggs. He burst through the curtain and into a back hallway lined with sandwich blueprints - yes, actual blueprints.
"This guy's unhinged," Milo muttered, staring at a diagram labeled 'Triple-Decker Tower of Terror.'
A noise behind him made him spin around, flashlight raised. Sam was there, smirking, holding the Mega Sandwich like a priceless artifact.
"You'll never understand, Detective," Sam said. "Sandwiches aren't just food. They're art. They deserve to be stolen, displayed, admired!"
"They also deserve to be eaten," Milo shot back.
Sam hurled a baguette like a spear. Milo ducked, the bread impaling itself into the wall behind him. "You're insane!" Milo yelled, grabbing a jar of mayonnaise from a nearby shelf and tossing it. It missed completely, splattering against the wall.
Sam darted through a side door, laughing maniacally. Milo followed, skidding into what appeared to be… a sandwich vault. Shelves upon shelves of sandwiches, each in its own display case, filled the room.
"Oh my…" Mrs. Pennyworth whispered, having finally caught up. "It's… beautiful."
"It's criminal," Milo corrected, spotting Sam climbing a ladder to a roof hatch.
"This isn't over, Detective!" Sam shouted, vanishing through the hatch.
Milo scrambled up after him, emerging onto a moonlit rooftop. Sam was already sprinting toward the edge, Mega Sandwich in hand. Milo grabbed a stray baguette from the ground and hurled it like a javelin. It whizzed past Sam, who turned and grinned.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Sam taunted.
And then he leapt off the roof.
Milo rushed to the edge, heart racing - only to see Sam gracefully landing on a passing sandwich delivery truck and vanishing into the night.
Mrs. Pennyworth gasped. "He's… he's gone!"
Milo clenched his fists. "Not for long. He left us breadcrumbs. Literally." He pointed to a trail of sesame seeds on the roof.