Hi there, been a while huh? Sorry about the eternal delays with this story. This chapter in particular has given me so many troubles over the past... (Checks date of the last post) ... er, well that should be an indication of how rough this chapter has been. Anyway, I finally got it working for me in a direction I like. so please do enjoy and if you do, please leave a review it helps a ton and motivates me even more to finish this story!
They arrived in Paris a few days later. The mood lighter, the boys back to their old selves. Josie unlocked the door to the safe house and set her bag in the entryway, sliding through to the living room to flop onto the couch.
"Finally..." She grumbled, rubbing her face. They'd been going non-stop since they'd learned about the Cooper Vault. Being back in Paris was a relief. With Murray back, Bentley and Sly seemed more at ease. All three were happier. Their family was complete. Tris settled down at her workbench and pulled her laptop out to charge. She set it aside and then pulled out a small folder, string, and a corkboard before pinning the various cards the Fox of a Thousand Faces had left them and settled back to look over what little information she'd been able to dredge up.
There wasn't much. A handful of articles, a few blurry or grainy images from security tapes, a dozen or so police reports. That was it. She hadn't been able to dig up anything else. With a sigh, she set it aside and moved to the planning table.
"Bentley! Do you have the satellite images of the island?" She called after digging through several bags and drawers.
"In the blue bag at the bottom in the tubes!" He called back.
"Ah! Found them! Thanks!" She laid them out on the table and leaned over them to examine the various photos and blueprints.
"I thought the whole point of coming back to Paris was to take a break?" Josie said.
"It is. But this is a massive job were
we're looking to pull here. I want to stay on top of the ball as long as we can." She slid a transparency over the blueprints and began to scribble a few notes. "But yes, you and Sly can rest up until we figure out what else we're going to need."
Josie shook her head. It was just like Tris to work even on a break. "Just don't burn yourself out." She said.
"I know my limits Josie, but thank you for the concern." She hummed back. The safehouse fell into relative silence for the next few hours. Bentley and Tris passed transparencies back and forth, scratching out notes or tossing them aside when they realized one plan or the other wouldn't work.
Tris finally sighed and set aside her glasses to rub her eyes. "We need more hands... We need the girls, probably more..."
Bentley nodded. "My thoughts exactly. This here looks like an Arcane Barrier... And without the van, we need more reliable vehicles. The only mechanic I know better than Murray is Lindsey. And Aline's skills with disguises is likely to come in handy along the way."
"Arcane barrier, aerial defenses, and that's just the surface of what this nightmare of an island is hiding. Fort Knox has less security!" Tris shook her head. "There's only one problem. Aline refuses to speak to me, Lindsey is caught up in a legal battle over her family's estate and business, and Hel is... honestly she's vanished. The last I heard from her was almost sixteen months ago. Before Murray left to study the Dreamtime."
"Well then we should -" Bentley paused as his computer beeped loudly. With a frown, he accepted the video chat request he'd received. Two familiar faces popped into view, white-furred, pink-eyed, Nat and Nate both grinned from his screen and he immediately perked up.
"Bentley!" They cheered loudly. Sly and Josie both paused and looked over at each other with a wide grin, rushing over to join Bentley. "Sly! Josie!"
"Nat, Nate! Look at you two!" Josie cooed.
Sly grinned and leaned against Bentley's chair. "Hey, Kiddos!" He said.
"So you are all together! Is Murray there?" Nate said, smirking a bit at his sister.
"He is, he's unpacking the car at the moment, but I'm sure he'd love to talk with you when he's done. Tris is here too." A smaller screen popped up with Tris's face as she opened her own laptop and joined the chat.
"Hey, you two." She waved and then looked at the others.
"I told you my intel was good!" Nate said. "Listen, we've got some intel for you guys..."
"Yeah! You remember Julien Thayers?" Nat asked.
Josie paused and frowned slightly. "That's the guy based here in Paris right? The one who got you interested in Sly in the first place?"
"Yeah, him. We've been working with him for a while now, and about two months ago he sent us to California, US, for a job."
"What kind of job?" Sly asked, trying not to frown. He didn't like the Twins being on their own.
Nate spoke up. "Doris Rothenburg. CEO of Cyber Devil Interactive."
"What's a gaming company got that Julien's even bothered with?" Tris asked, actually frowning and doing a quick search on the woman in question. "From her record, Doris is... not a nice competitor. She's been investigated for some pretty serious charges of hostile business practices, goes after copyright infringement like no one else... but that doesn't make her dirty." She shrugged.
"Julien wasn't sure when he sent us, but he knew she was fishy."
"She was at Rajan's ball," Josie said. "I saw her talking with the Contessa and several other major criminals."
"That kinda explains this actually." Nate held up a photo he'd taken and printed. It showed some kind of laboratory, wires and bits of mechanical pieces strewn across a table, and in the center a large mechanical eye. Sly froze, eyes locked on the image. "She's got a Clockwerk eye!"
"What? How is that even possible?" Bentley sounded genuinely panicked and leaned over the computer, trying to see the image better. "We destroyed the Hate Chip! We watched the pieces crumble to dust!"
"Our best guess is that it's a replica. We had the same reaction." Nat said. "We didn't get very long to look at it, but we're positive Doris is planning something awful..."
"We'll be there as soon as possible, stay out of trouble until we get there," Sly said. His whole body had gone deathly still and he had a look in his eye that Josie couldn't quite place.
"That's exactly why we called you as soon as we realized what we were dealing with. We'll lay low until you get here. Ping us when you land and we'll show you where we've hidden out."
The flight to Los Angeles felt longer than any flight Josie had taken before. It felt twice as long as it was. By the time they'd met up with the twins she was on edge. A Clockwerk eye? How was that even possible? Even if it was a replica, that kind of tech was too dangerous to be in the wrong hands. Judging by the way that Sly's knee kept bouncing he felt the same way. The Twins met them a short distance from the airport and guided them to the hideout they'd set up. It was small but they'd been in cramped quarters before, so they settled in.
Nat and Nate were clearly excited to see them and there was a fair amount of hugging and excited rambling before Bentley and Tris got them to sit down and explain.
"So like we said over the video chat, Julien sent us here about two months ago to follow up on his hunches about Rothenburg. He didn't really have a whole lot other than a bad feeling about her, so he asked us to come and take a look." Nate said, pulling out a folder with all of the information they'd gathered compiled inside. "What he did have was this..." He played a short clip on his phone of a commercial for a game that Cyber Devil was developing, but it had been slowed down and in doing so showed flashes of a hypnotic pattern hidden among the scenes.
"Hypnosis in a commercial, it's pretty ingenious actually. A few online forums have talked about it but it seems like they've all gone quiet recently." Nat said, frowning as she watched the video again. "Nate and I were the only ones who recognized the pattern... I mean when you're forced to stare at something for months on end it becomes pretty... ingrained in your memory." Her ears fell back and she pressed subtly closer to her brother. "When we told Julien he sent us out to confirm."
Nate gently comforted his sister and nodded. "It took us three weeks to realize we weren't going to learn anything just tailing Doris, she didn't do anything, so we... got internships. That gave us at least a reason to be in the building in case we were caught and if we got somewhere we shouldn't be we could just say we got lost... That's how we found the eye. We knew we couldn't just take it so we got the picture and then called Bentley."
Josie had to admit she was honestly impressed by the Twins. They'd gotten some good intel and they'd done pretty well on their own all things considered. "This is really well put together you two. Well done." She said.
Sly nodded and gave the pair a smile. "I'm proud of you both, you knew your limits without the gang to back you up and you called in backup before things could get out of hand." They grinned wide and perked up a bit.
"It'll take Bentley and me a bit of time to go through all of this intel, but in the meantime, we need some recon of the area," Tris said, looking to Sly and Josie. "You two head out and get the lay of the land, you two, let's talk about what you've found in more detail." Her attention turned back to the twins who nodded. Sly and Josie stood, taking their Binocucoms from Bentley and gathering their equipment before heading out.
"I'll patrol around the left, you take right. If you see a good entry call, if not meet on the roof." Josie said.
"Sounds good." Sly slid out into the street, heading to the first marker. He paused and ducked back into an alleyway. "What's with all the security?" He asked, flicking his earpiece on, watching a drone glide past followed by a duck who was at the controls.
"I'm seeing a lot of patrols around here too... what gives?" Josie's voice echoed in his ear.
"Doris has always had super tight security all around the building, it was never really talked about by the other employees," Nate said. "I guess we know why now."
"Just try to stay out of sight and keep your eyes open. You know this song and dance by now." Tris said.
"Got it. I'll keep my eyes open." Sly stepped up beside the light pink convertible that was marked.
"That's Doris's car, she loves that thing," Nat said.
"I put a tracker in your bag Sly, see if you can't tag the car for us," Bentley added, pulling open his tracker map and watching the tracker light up as Sly activated it. Sly nodded and slid under the car with ease, quietly attaching the tacker before crawling out and heading to the rooftops again. He snapped a few other pictures of various important areas nearby and then settled down to wait for Josie.
"Looks like I found our entry point, Rings." She called a few minutes later, sending him one of the pictures he'd taken. A Cooper mask carefully hidden among some graffiti with an arrow pointing up. "Followed the symbols and I'm at what I'm guessing was their entry point. Air vent tucked behind a dumpster."
"I'm on my way." He landed beside her a few moments later and nodded. "Was this you two?" He asked, looking around.
"Oh yeah, that was our first entry point, it leads into the main server room. We couldn't get much further than but we wanted to mark it just in case something went wrong. It was also our exit strategy." Nat said.
"We taught you well... you did a good job planning ahead."
"Thanks! We wanted to make you proud!"
"Well, you certainly did." He assured before nodding to Josie and sliding through the vent. He slid through until he came to the server room and then carefully stepped out and ducked close to one of the server towers, peering around and holding up a finger to his lips as Josie joined him. Doris, a possum woman, was standing with a shrew who was typing on a datapad and talking through the data they had.
"That's Eugine and Doris. Eugine is her right hand, and does a lot of the work for her." Nat said.
"The prototype is working perfectly. The Commercial was a huge success and the hype for the game is just, growing and growing. Of course, we did have the trouble with the subliminal messaging, but that's been... taken care of as per your instructions." Eugine said, tapping at the digital pad in his hands. "There's not been any brain degradation like we saw in the first tests."
"Excellent." Doris hummed, taking the pad to look over the data on it for herself. "Those chat rooms have proven to be an excellent source of test subjects for the eye." Josie's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "Make sure security is on high alert, we can't be too careful."
"Of course. I've already set up patrols and made sure our systems are functioning at one hundred percent."
"I'll be in my office if you need me. Keep me updated on any issues you find."
"Of course." Eugine nodded and scurried away as Doris walked off to her office.
"This doesn't sound good... we need info. You better get a few pictures and get out of there before you're spotted, last thing we need is you two going MIA." Tris muttered.
Sly and Josie nodded and spit again, Sly taking one side of the room, Josie taking the other, each snapping a few carefully taken pictures of the offices beyond the server room. "Lots of space here, we're gonna have to be careful moving around. And look at the security. There's at least four guards in the main room and there's still people working!" Josie said to Sly.
"Yeah. This is going to be a bit tricky." Together they made their way out of the studio and back to the hideout, passing off their binocucoms to Tris and Bentley before settling in to wait for their next move.
"After going over the twin's notes and what little information I've been able to glean from gaming channels and sites, Cyber Devil is developing a new game. Most gaming channels think it's just another MMO or massively multiplayer online game. What's been released looks to be a fantasy setting, some unique character customization, and a town-building function. Other than a few trailers Doris and the Cyber Devil team have been extremely tight-lipped about the whole thing." Tris said as Sly watched the last members of the Cyber Devil team leave the building. "I need you to get inside and install the Delver Virus I gave you on Doris's computer."
"Sounds simple enough." Sly hummed, eyes narrowing slightly as he shifted to get a better view of the car Doris was getting into. "Looks like the coast should be clear of all but security here shortly."
"Good. Still, be careful, we don't know what sort of traps or security is inside."
"I'm always careful." He paused and grimaced as he heard Josie snort on the other end of the coms. "Okay, I'm usually careful. I'll keep my eyes peeled." He dropped down into the alley and made his way back to the vent. The interior was dark, illuminated only by the soft glow of the various computers. Sly slid through the near-silent offices, making sure to keep his eyes and ears moving at all times. He froze and ducked behind a potted plant as a heavy-set bear guard stomped past.
"Sly! Get the key card on his belt! It might come in handy!" Tris said in his ear. He nodded and carefully positioned himself behind him. He snagged the key card with his cane and then froze as he started to pull it and realized it was attached to his belt by an elastic cord. Thinking fast he released it from his cane and dove under a desk as it reeled back and snapped the guard. Holding his breath he watched the bear stalk around the office.
"Who's there?" He growled, taking what felt like a lifetime to finally decide he had simply caught the cord on a corner. Sly settled back and let out his breath, shaking his head as he slowly crawled out from under the desk.
"Always careful, huh?" Josie's voice teased in his ear.
"Yeah, yeah, that was a screw-up on my end. Didn't see the elastic until too late."
"You still need that key Sly!" Tris insisted. He gave a nod and hurried after the guard, this time taking the time to unhook the whole clip before he snatched the key card. With a nod to himself, he moved further through the building, ducking through the open spaces as quickly as he could and trying to avoid the open halls until he finally reached the office he was looking for. Doris's. Swiping the key to get inside he settled at the computer and plugged in the USB Tris had given him.
"Perfect, once that's finished downloading, get out of there, we don't want to risk it."
"What about the assistant's computer?"
"Doris wouldn't leave valuable information on just any computer. Not even her assistant's. If it's not here she's got a backup somewhere... alright, the virus is downloaded. Murray's already working on thinning out the security, come on back and we'll talk about your next move."
He nodded again and made sure everything was how he'd found it, and that he'd pocketed the USB before he quietly made his way back out of the building. He wouldn't lie, leaving wasn't exactly easy. He wanted nothing more than to tear the place apart, brick by brick until he found the eye and destroyed it, but he knew that wasn't the smart move and he wasn't interested in another dose of hypnosis.
"Aren't you coming back to gear up?" Tris asked
"No. Let me know as soon as you find anything." He narrowed his eyes and watched the drones and the security from across the street, his grip on his cane tightening. It was going to be a long night.
"Nat, Nate, I have a job for you two," Bentley called, glancing up at the pair from his computer and smirking as they both sat up excitedly.
"Already? Yes!" Nat cheered, scrambling over her brother to get to Bentley first.
"Hey, watch it!" Nate grumbled, though even being climbed over didn't really put a damper on his excitement.
Bentley smirked and shook his head. "Don't get too excited you two. I just need you to use your internships to get inside the studio and place a couple of bugs." He slid four metallic devices across the table and then sat back in his chair. "One in Doris's office, one in her car, one in the server room, and one in the break room."
"They each took two and then shared a look. "You take Doris's office and car, I'll take the break room and server room," Nat said. "You're better at sneaking around than I am, and with tech, and I can keep Doris distracted for you."
Nate nodded. "Sounds good to me." He hummed, leading the way out. Getting into the studio was fairly easy, after all, all they had to do was show their badges to the old polar bear security guard and they were in. They split almost immediately, Nat heading to the server room first and finding a good spot to plant the bug before heading out again to find Doris.
The Possum woman wasn't hard to find, but she was heading towards her office. "Uhm, excuse me! Ms. Rothenburg?" She called, causing Doris to stop and turn.
"Yes?"
"Sorry to bother you I know you're busy but I'm having a bit of trouble with those emails you asked me to draft up and I was hoping I could get your input on them." It wasn't really a lie, Nat had been quite confused about the emails and had been meaning to ask.
"Oh, yes, I have some time right now. What seems to be the problem?"
Nate waited, listening to Nat talk with Doris and lead her away to her workspace until he was sure they were far enough away. He ducked into Doris's office and shut the door quickly then grinned as he looked around. Doris kept her office spotless, and minimal. She however did have a wide array of figurines from the games made by Cyber Devil on display. It didn't take him long to find one close enough to her desk for the bug to pick up her conversations. He carefully tucked the bug inside the figure and then checked to make sure Nat was still talking with Doris by tapping his earpiece to listen in on her.
"Ah, I see what the problem is, your formatting is wrong. You need to-" Doris was talking and that was all he needed to hear. He hurried outside and to the pink convertible Doris drove, watching the guard that patrolled the parking lot from a distance. Patiently he waited until the guard had moved away and then slid over and carefully placed a device of his own on the door. An alarm killer he'd designed. It only worked in a small radius but for a job like this it was perfect. After that all he had to do was jimmy the lock and slide into the driver's seat. He carefully removed the radio and placed the bug inside it before returning it to where it belonged, climbing out, grabbing his alarm killer, and casually walking away.
From inside the hideout, Bentley had to admit he was blown away by how calm and collected the pair were. Like seasoned professionals. Of course, they'd gone through so much the previous year, taking on Clock-la, the Contessa's prison, all of the heists, but it was still crazy to see how quickly they'd grown from nervous baby thieves to a well-oiled machine. He almost wanted to see what they could do on their own, but no, now wasn't the time. Besides they were only 15 still and he wasn't exactly comfortable with them being on their own in the first place.
Nate ducked into the server room and wove his way to a secluded space where he could stand between several of the towers. All he had to do was attach the magnets Tris needed so she could pose as a repairman. Easy. He looked around with the eyes of a gadget maker and then smirked and tucked the magnates he'd been given upon returning to the hideout between some wires, the wall, and the side of the tower. No one would notice them and Tris could easily slip them out when she was done with her job.
"Alright, that should be enough of a disruption to have them call for repairs." He said quietly, beating a hasty retreat and giving a small, albeit nervous smile, to Bruno the polar bear head of security as he passed him at the front desk. "Coffee today Bruno?" He asked.
The old bear grunted and looked up at Nate, giving a smirk at his nerves. "Large, black, no sugar or cream, one shot of peppermint. You should know this by now kid." He teased.
"I know it, I just wanted to make sure you wanted one!" He huffed and gave an exaggerated annoyed look before shaking his head and smiling. "I'll make sure to grab you one." Bruno passed him the money for the coffee and then settled back in his chair to wait.
Tris dropped into a secluded alley across the street from the office about an hour later, after confirming with Nat that the magnets had done their job. Baggy overalls hid most of her form and she'd donned a platinum blonde wig and oversized glasses to hide her usual features. Still, she knew Aline would have made her look far more convincing than a handful of clothes bought at the closest thrift store, but she didn't have time to dwell on that.
She took a deep breath and double-checked her equipment before walking into the studio and giving the security a small nod. "Hey, I was called about some repairs that need done?" She asked, adjusting her tool bag. Bruno looked up and nodded, the chair creaking as he stood.
"Oh yeah, this way. Got a problem with our servers." He said, leading her to the server room and leaning against the door frame as she stepped in.
"Alright, I'll take a look, see what the problem is." She hummed, connecting into the tower and running a diagnostic with a small frown. Bruno wasn't leaving. He stayed in the doorway and watched her quietly. "Uh, this is probably going to take a while, you plannin' on staying there the whole time?" She asked.
"Yep." He grunted. Mentally she swore but outwardly she nodded.
"Fair enough, gotta make sure I'm not screwing with your computers." She hummed, sliding around the towers and waiting to see if he'd follow. She mentally cursed when he did and quickly sent a message to Bentley requesting some help.
It didn't take long, Bruno's radio crackled a minute later. "Hey, boss, we have a situation... some lady is shouting about how video games cause violence and she won't leave..." Bruno grunted in annoyance, glancing at Tris who was trying extremely hard to avoid laughing while also looking very busy. It was only made harder when she heard Josie ranting through the radio.
"I'll be right out." He huffed, plodding off. Tris waited until he was down the hall before grabbing her handheld hacker.
"Nice work Josefina." She muttered. "Keep them distracted as long as you can." She worked her way through the firewalls and then the files, frowning as she also tried to keep herself looking busy trying to fix the servers. Luckily she was good at multitasking. "Bingo, back door. I knew there would be a way around your coding." She said as she broke through the final layer of code. "Bentley, what do you know about VR?"
Alright, no major promises on being back soon, but hopefully the motivation continues. Again, I do apologize for the frequent hiatuses, my job is a very demanding one and as I said this chapter/arc has given me so many troubles as I've tried to write it. (It's had about 3 separate versions and I've hated them all until now.) If you did enjoy please let me know with a review and I'll catch you all in the next post.