[quote=@The 42nd Gecko]
[@Lonewolf685] Well, one of my questions I still have is why Monkey is in any way shape or form necessary for the plot to continue, necessitating the trapping of her in order to keep the plot moving. Presuming she had escaped, via some clever trick rather than raw power, what exactly would that have messed up?
[/quote]

Because if she escaped without Alex, she would be isolated from everything going on and require us to find some new way to make her relevant for the plot. You yourself said you wanted to get in on Alex's heist because it was the most interesting. If you ran now, then you'd miss out on it. 

And yes, before you ask, it is still somewhat feasible she meets with Si's group after escaping-though I'm not too clear the path for them myself-, but that is an extra series of events that would need to be conceived rather then remain in the plot line where she is.

[quote=@Flamelord]
The understanding that there would have been a time skip for Alex to work things out came from two sources. The first was that due to the length of time that he had been away on his side trip with Tori (IC time, not OOC time, It was hardly a weekend jaunt), he would need to take stock of the city and actually locate something to go heist like the supply shipment that had been the initial target as we discussed. 

The other source was the mere fact that even if he had had a target in mind on returning to the Capital, he hadn't had the time to plan anything because Zealot showed up almost immediately upon him getting back, So he'd need a bit to come up with an initial plan for how the heist would work, even if it fell apart later. After that, potentially collect some supplies, though that probably could have been cut out without any real problems. 

Otherwise I guess there could have just been one big cut to the heist with all that offscreen, but it wouldn't exactly help the time issues involved. 
[/quote]

He could have had the heist planned out before he left on the Arcadia trip and just went to carry it out in a rush. Have supplies stashed elsewhere to carry out his plan.