It takes a couple of weeks where we each meet up with Ida at the times when we'd usually be out on patrol and train with her. Slow progress at first, but eventually she starts figuring out the fine control it takes to push people's attention away from her. By the second movie night, only Faye and I can actually keep track of her when she tries, and we both have to concentrate on senses that not even any of the other Knights possess, and most certainly no other humans would. Cameras and other security measures are, of course, a different problem, but tackling that is part of what we're discussing tonight.
"Alright, let's play this in reverse," Eden says and taps the whiteboard we've once again rolled out in front of Faye's TV and flipped so her study notes are on the side we aren't using. "Destiny and Ida have made it inside the compound and managed to find a room with an open computer in it. Can you lure whoever's using it away from the room so you can copy their files?"
"I can probably pull some strings and make them need to pee really bad or something. That should at least get them out of there, but I'm not sure I can make them forget to lock the PC when they get up," I explain with a cocked head.
"I think I've got a handle on that. I'm already making them unaware of us, shouldn't be much trouble to make them forgetful as well." Ida is very confident in this new way of using her powers, to the point where she's just casually been making each of us unaware of her at various points of the night, without any of us even noticing. Which, I suppose, is the point, but is also somewhat unsettling. None of us noticed when she got up to grab a soda from Faye's fridge ten minutes ago.
Eden nods, seemingly satisfied with that part of the plan. "Sounds good to me. Now, since none of us have been inside the compound, the two of you will have to do your own reconnaissance and look for a suitable computer, unless you happen to get lucky, but you both have means to make sure that process goes smoothly, so I guess the only thing left is getting inside?"
"We can't really do much about the cameras," Asha says, tossing her hat in the ring. "But if we time it right when someone's about to head inside, I think a big enough distraction might give you an opening to slip in, and then you'll just have to get lucky." She winks at me, knowing I barely even have to try in order to create my own. "And I've got just the right distraction in mind~."
Five hours later, just after the sun has set, Aria and I are in our stealth forms across the street from the impromptu government compound, where the motel Jeanette stayed at used to be. Aria's stealth form turns out to be just a big, heavy, dark yellow cloak that covers her entire body from neck to just above her ankles. I'm sure she's got some sort of bodysuit beneath, but it's entirely concealed. Onyxia, Kaida and Vida are hovering a few hundred feet above the compound, ready to swoop down and get us out if anything goes wrong, while Incarna is a ways out in the desert, setting up her distraction.
We've been waiting for almost an hour for anyone to leave or enter the compound before we finally see an unmarked black SUV pull up and park outside. Two people get out, one a large, muscular, bald man in a black suit, the other a redheaded woman I'd guess to be in her forties, dressed in civilian clothes and a white lab coat, but with an ID card identifying her as 'Allen, Cynthia' hanging off a lanyard around her neck. "Incarna, get ready for my signal," Aria sends over the telepathic network.
"Distraction charged and ready. Just give me the go ahead."
Without even looking at each other, Aria and I head across the road, getting closer to the entrance and ready to make our move. We're in the middle of a bright cone of light emitted by one of the towers on the other side of the fence, but thanks to my squadmate's mental trickery, neither of the two officials see us, despite the woman's eyes passing right over us. A few steps closer and we're almost there...
Gravel crunches beneath my foot, a sound that causes the woman to stop and take a look around. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what, ma'am?"
"Hm. Probably nothing," she says, having still not spotted us, even though she's once again looking right at us. Aria's new trick is truly impressive. The woman pulls on the card on her lanyard, walking up to the door where she can scan her credentials on a little device beside the door.
"Now, Incarna, go!" Aria sends, just as I concentrate and gently nudge at both of the government officials' strings, trying to force them to react when a full-on light show spontaneously brightens the night sky like it was daytime! Five kilometers out, Incarna has been spending the last hour setting up and charging cannons she typically only uses against the biggest, most dangerous of monsters. Normally the energy gets dispersed in considerably more concentrated beams, but dealing damage wasn't the goal this time, and it lets her use her powers for distractions instead.
Just as planned, aided by my manipulation, the woman's card just manages to scan and open the door before both she and the agent turn around, allowing Aria and I to slip inside. As one would expect when viewing the compound from the outside, the walls in here are simple, off-white plastic sheets, mostly there to block the view, but the floors are of a more sturdy grated metal. Knowing the time is short, my partner in literal crime and I hurry down the hallway and only hesitate for a moment to take the right-hand path when the hall splits in two directions.
The first room we get to seems to be a small lunchroom with a few tables and chairs and a tiny kitchen. There's one man in here, in a security guard's uniform, but he seems to be on a break. With his wireless earbuds in, mouth full of sandwich, and his face practically buried in the video playing on his phone, I doubt he'd have noticed us even if Aria wasn't keeping anyone in the vicinity distracted.
"I sense two people at work in a room just down the hallway and around a corner. That might be what we're looking for," the Scandinavian woman sends, and I barely even have to concentrate on the relatively few strings in this area to get the same impression. Whatever was left behind in the aftermath of our battle with Jeanette is messing a little with the tapestry, but I nod and before long, we're just outside that room.
What my innate luck can't quite account for is the extra security door we happen upon next, though. Above the door is a sign proclaiming an observation deck to be on the other side. This one also requires a keycard, which we obviously don't have. "Shit. What now Destiny?" Aria asks over our connection. Follow the newest chapters on NovelPing.
"Hang on, I've got an idea," I respond and close my eyes. "Just keep an eye out." As expected, the tapestry isn't particularly busy out here, despite the interference. Frankly, there's more of us Knights in the immediate vicinity than there are other people, so it's pretty easy to sort through all the available threads and find just the ones connected to the two people on the observation deck. "No, not that one... Maybe... No..." I whisper softly to myself as I work, sorting through the strings, and eventually find what I'm looking for. "Aha!"
"What? What's the plan, Destiny?"
I don't really have time to answer before the first man hurries over to open the door, holding onto his stomach as he runs down the hallway to where I presume the restroom is. Only a few seconds later, the other guy swears loudly and hurries out too, while Aria and I slip in as well, finding a cup splintered on the floor with coffee spilled around it.
"Okay, so a coffee spill and...?"
"Bad chili."
"Ew. But smart. Okay, let's get to it," Aria sends and moves over to the computer the second man didn't remember to lock before he left, slots in a thumb drive and quickly starts copying everything she finds. We don't know what we're looking for, so we're just copying it all, intending to sort through it later. The transfer runs smoothly and quickly at first, but then starts hitching on something and slows down significantly.
I already feel my stomach dropping even before I hear the footsteps of the coffee guy coming back. Aria minimizes the transfer window, and the two of us hurry to press our backs against the wall where we won't stand out even if Aria's distraction veil briefly fails, hoping we might be able to at least stay out of sight. "I'll try to keep his attention away from the computer too."
The man has brought paper towels, a broom, and a handheld vacuum cleaner to help take care of his mess. My fellow Knight and I hold our breaths as the time passes almost painfully slowly, watching him first scrape up the larger shards with the broom and dustpan, then suck up as much of the liquid as he can be bothered with the paper towel, and finally he uses the vacuum to take care of the smaller shards he couldn't get with the broom, swearing the entire time about his own clumsiness.
While that whole thing goes on, I take a moment to look out of the large, wall-wide observation window on one side of the room. It faces the hole in the ground that was left behind after our battle with Jeanette. Having not seen it since the fight, I can't tell if it's grown or shrunk at all, but the sense of dread and despair I feel as I look at the black and purple roiling sea of darkness it encompasses is entirely separate from the comparatively small amount of worry I have about Aria and I being caught. What's this guy gonna do if he catches us, anyway? Even if he had a gun, bullets can't hurt us, and we could probably blast a hole in the walls of this place to escape through.
What unsettles me the most is that I swear I see silhouettes in the darkness. Various monstrous shapes. Claws, wings, wide gaping and snapping jaws. But among them, something that looks decidedly feminine stares back, and she smirks. A confident, self-assured smirk, as if everything is going exactly according to plan. My veins feel like they're full of ice.
What pulls me out of the trancelike state I've been in is Aria grabbing my shoulder and pointing at the man finishing up his cleaning and leaving. We check on the file transfer once we're alone in the room again, happy to find it finished, so we grab the stick and hurry back out of the room once Mr. Shits comes back and opens the door from the outside. I throw one last glance at the dark void and shudder when I'm fairly certain those eyes are staring back at me once more, but I don't have time to keep looking. We have to get the fuck out of here.
On the way out, we have to dodge the lady who unknowingly let us inside and the agent who was with her. She's on the phone, and we have to move slowly enough around her to catch some of the conversation. Or at least her end.
"Yes, sir, just as planned. We're making great headway in studying the anomaly's paraphysical properties." She paces back and forth a bit, one arm crossed over her chest and the other's elbow resting on her hand. "Yes, I do believe we can use some of this data in the Warlock project. We might be able to solve the structural instability issues soon. Thank you, sir. Allen out." After hanging up, she heads in the direction of the observation deck we just left, allowing Aria and I to head for the exit, which luckily doesn't need a keycard just to open from the inside.
"Did you get it?" Onyxia asks eagerly when Aria and I join the others in the skies above the compound. Incarna is here too, having moved away from where she launched her distraction pretty much the moment she was done, just as planned.
"We did! It was just like a spy movie!" Aria is practically shaking with the nervous energy and excitement I'm assuming she's been keeping contained for the entirety of tonight's operation. She's not even sticking to the mental voice she usually prefers while we're transformed. I just nod and smile, still a little unsettled by what I saw inside the darkness.
"Alright, good," our leader chuckles and shakes her head, taking both mine and Aria's hands in hers. "Let's get back to Vida's place and we can have a drink and unwind while we debrief."
Back at the apartment, it doesn't take long before everyone looks rather deflated with a cheap drink in hand. We might not have been in any sort of fight tonight, but planning and executing what we did has been keeping everyone on edge for most of a week, so seeing that we all made it out safely is a huge relief to all of us. Asha and Ida are sitting on the floor with the former's laptop open on the coffee table in front of them, flipping through various reports and just quickly skimming over them to get some sort of idea of what the government has been studying in there. It'll take more than tonight for any of us to go through what we copied in full, but we at least want to discuss what happened tonight and see what sort of steps we might want to take next based on preliminary information.
Ayame is looking over their shoulders, tripping nervously herself, while Faye, Eden and I are on the couch, kind of leaning on each other all three of us. We already went over the events of tonight and talked about most of what happened inside, though so far I've kept a couple of details to myself. The music is low and slow, allowing those of us who need the rest to get some, even while in the company of the others, and all the Squires are here too, also resting along with us. Chibi Destiny is in my embrace, clinging onto my arm a little. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping dot com.
"You look troubled, Destiny," Faye mumbles at me after taking a sip of her half-empty beer. I should've known she of all people would pick up on my mood. She's always been the most aware of everyone else's feelings. "What's up?" Eden sits up a little and looks at me with concern, frowning when she does.
"I just... Well, I'm not sure if I'm just going crazy or whatever. I swear I saw something in the dark mist above the hole left where the motel used to be."
"Really?" Eden struggles whether to be in girlfriend mode or leader mode for a moment, but finds a middle ground when she pulls me in tighter against her even as she looks over at Ida and asks somewhat sternly "Did you see anything?"
"No? I don't think so," the young genius answers with a quirk of her head. "But I'll admit I was very focused on the guy who almost discovered us, and then on getting out. Distracting people the way I did doesn't leave a lot of bandwidth for other things."
"Makes sense. Then... What did you see, Destiny?"
I scrunch my nose for a bit before I sit up a little straighter and look at each of them in turn, finishing with Eden. "Monster shapes at first. Teeth, claws, talons, that sort of stuff. But... I'm also pretty sure I saw someone. A person. A woman."
Ayame's face stiffens into a grim sneer. "I mean, I think we've all seen enough of how your powers work to not question you when you say something that sounds crazy to everyone else. But I really hope you're wrong in this case."
"Trust me, me too," I mumble. "But she was smiling, grinning even. She was smug, like she was gloating." A grave silence settles over all of us, even Asha and Ida, who have otherwise been entirely engrossed in scanning the files we stole.
"Well, then I guess whatever else we find in those files, we need to keep a near constant watch on that government compound and be ready," Eden says with a sigh. "So patrol duty's back on, but we're just going to be watching the compound. Weekly reports about anything suspicious like increased or decreased activity, as well as if you feel anything out of the ordinary. Should something drastic happen, we all need to remain ready as backup at immediate notice. Understood?" We all nod, and Faye even throws in a cheeky little salute. "Alright. Anything else we might need to keep an eye on?"
Ida looks up from the laptop and makes a little expression. "We did overhear a scientist, the one who let us in, on the phone. She was talking to a superior about a project called Warlock. No clue what it is, and I already searched for it in the documents but found no mention. So the only thing we know is that they're studying the black mist and the hole and using what they find for that project."
"Then let's not focus on whatever that is for now, but at least keep our eyes and ears open, yeah?" Faye has gotten off the couch to swap her now-empty beer for a glass of water. "We can't do much if we don't know what it is, anyway. Or even know if we want or need to do anything about it."
Eden and I slide back into just leaning against each other on the couch, holding hands. "Yeah, let's not worry about that yet," she agrees. "We've got much bigger concerns to deal with in the immediate future."
Despite the alcohol and all of us having a desire to lighten up a bit, the rest of the night is fairly somber and we all go home before it gets too late. Normally I'd just take the bus, but Eden offers me a ride home and I prefer having the company, and rather than going inside right away when we get to my place, I stay in the car with her, leaning back in my seat and turning to look at her. "What?" she asks with a chuckle as the engine goes into idle mode.
I smile, reach out to take her hand and stroke it a little. "I just... Sometimes I wish we could've met without the whole Knightly connection, you know? Maybe we'd have had a chance at a more normal life, with more dates and a slower pace." Her smile is tight, a little strained, but she takes my hand. "Instead, who knows if we'll even get to-"
"Hey. Of course we will," she interrupts and leans over the small gap between our seats. "Whatever comes next, we'll handle it together, all six of us, and we'll retire from that part of our lives. We'll eat bagels and read books before we have a boring-ass Sunday."
"Promise?"
"Of course. Now give me a kiss and get inside. We're both gonna need some rest."
As she drives away, I can't help the sinking feeling that none of us can prevent whatever's coming, and the end result won't be pretty.