I apologize for the long wait for this chapter, but my computer had a problem and deleted over half of my recently written work on the majority of my recently open works which led to a lot of rewrites on my documents. I am happy to say that the problem has been fixed and all except for one document has been rewritten. Now, please enjoy the chapter!
One of the very few non-bird named drones that Winger currently possessed zipped around his targeted warehouse. He had to respect whoever had built such a deceiving building, at the first glance, it looked like nothing more than a storage warehouse that any number of companies could be using; but on closer inspection, it actually had many underground levels that spanned an area far greater than the perimeter of the warehouse seen above the ground.
"How's it going buddy?" Watcher called through the communication device that was situated in his right ear.
"I'm just scanning and doing recon with Odoroki right now."
"Why'd you have to name random ones in Japanese? Just pick a bird like ya normally do." Matt hated any and all of Winger's drones that weren't named after some type of bird. He occasionally struggled to pronounce their names properly and pretty much always forgot what they meant in English.
"Odoroki means 'surprise' remember? I thought it was quite fitting." It's true, 'surprise' really was a fitting name for this drone. Matt will probably never understand how Adam did it, but he managed to make the most ideal drone possible. Odoroki was so small that it was easy to hide it behind objects or zip past someone who wasn't paying enough attention, despite it being his second fastest drone, Odoroki didn't make the slightest sound as it flew around easily earning the title as the quietest drone on record. Another advantage was the built-in camera and scanner, Winger could see everything clearly on his wrist projector while still remaining a safe distance away from his target.
Which is exactly what he was doing right now, so far, he hadn't seen anything alarming. Security cameras, guards, a few traps, nothing he hadn't dealt with before. It was almost too easy, practically begging for someone to break inside and take the valuable information stored within.
"I'm not seeing much of anything. Am I missing something?" Winger spoke into his com.
"Not that I've seen. This must be the 'decreased security during the day' thing, but I'd imagine that the further down you go the more you're going to find. Can you search further?" Matt answered while simultaneously watching Adam through Hawk that he was controlling and watching the screen that showed what Odoroki saw.
"Not without losing signal, there's some kind of interference, I think I can cancel it out once I'm in there though. I'll just have to clear a level, scan the next one, then clear it again."
"That'll take a while, can you cut the power instead?"
"Not without cutting the power to the whole place, and if I do that, I might as well just run in there screaming 'I'M HERE! COME SHOOT ME!' not exactly ideal."
"None of this is ideal." Watcher grumbled in his ear.
"I'm giving you control of Odoroki."
"Got 'em. You going in now?"
"Yeah. Take out the cameras for me, would ya?"
"Already on it. Good luck Winger, don't die."
"Welcome to the Atlas Family Café; two?"
"Yes." Hunk answered the perky employee.
"Right this way!" Hunk had to nudge Lance to get him to follow the employee to their booth.
"Thanks," Hunk said to the waiter when they were seated and had their menus, "don't tell me you're still thinking about that red head from the graduation party."
"Huh?"
"Come on dude, it's so obvious!" Lance actually was trying to figure out why Adam was at the Café, but he couldn't exactly say that to Hunk. It was so strange, normally if Adam wanted to check in on Curtis, he would have just sent him a text or called him, if he wanted to talk in person, he'd just drop by Curtis's apartment after he was done for the day. To drop by in person in the middle of the day was pretty much a nonexistent occurrence, and Lance's mind was doing cartwheels in its attempt to figure out the reason behind it.
"So, what if I am?" Lance joked covering his face with a menu.
"I knew it! Oh, hey Curtis!" Hunk called out as the said man was passing by.
"Oh, hey guys." Lance immediately noticed that he was out of uniform and had his backpack slung over one shoulder.
"Going somewhere? I thought you were working the lunch and early dinner shift." He questioned.
"Usually I am, but the hospital called, someone called in sick so they asked if I could fill in. Since we aren't busy, I figured why not." Curtis rubbed the back of his neck as he answered.
"Ah man, how long are you working?" Hunk said before Lance could say anything else.
"The filler shift then my usual night hours, but I should get a small break in between. I gotta run to make it in time, see ya guys, enjoy the food!" Curtis dashed out of the door after that.
"Bye!" Hunk yelled after him, Lance silently waved while his mind turned its cartwheels into flips with this new information. The hospital calling him in was a load of crap, since he was already working the night shift if someone did call in sick, they would call in other people first. The only reason that they would call in people who were already in the work schedule for that day would be if there was a major accident and they were suddenly flooded with patients. Being a vigilante, Lance would have been one of the first to know that something like that had happened, so that alone would have told him that Curtis was up to something, but add Adam's random visit into the mix and what do you get?
A pissed off, very confused Cuban vigilante sitting in a café booth with an incredulous look on his face staring at Curtis' rapidly disappearing back.
"You okay buddy?" Hunk nudged him under the table with his foot.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine, just hungry."
"Great, let's order!"
If those two are up to something, I'm gonna kill them! Lance's brain helpfully stated. He'd try to get a hold of Matt later when he could slip away and figure out just what the hell was going on.
Curtis let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, he was really hoping to not see Lance today. He hated both that they were lying to Lance and also that Adam was going alone, but at the same time, he couldn't even begin to think about what would happen to Lance if he even got near Sendak again. Pulling out the keys to his car, he shivered when he was forced to remember what had happened. It wasn't common knowledge, but the man who had kidnapped a ten-year-old girl and had tortured Lance, was the exact same man who owned the warehouse that Winger was currently breaking into.
Curtis chewed his bottom lip as he drove, he had a bad feeling about all of this. He understood the importance of getting the information they were hoping was there but understanding did nothing to help settle his nerves. For every advantage and skill point that Winger had, Sendak had three times as many. This general could even be considered to be more brutal, more twisted, more dangerous than even the Galra Gang leader. Sendak did, after all, kidnap the ten-year-old girl for the hell of it, he did it on a complete whim; and the only reason it was her that was taken was the simple unfortunate timing of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When Curtis arrived at his apartment, he grabbed a backpack and preceded to stuff as many painkillers, bandages, stiches, and every other type of medical supply imaginable into the bag. He then changed into a pair of black jeans and a navy-blue t-shirt; grabbing a different backpack, he put his wallet, phone charger, current book he was reading, and the rest of his personal items into it.
Hopping back into his car he shot a text to Matt to let him know he was on his way before making the thirty-minute drive to what they dubbed the "Vigilante HQ."
"Hey man." Matt called when Curtis entered the main area.
"How's it going?" Curtis questioned, dropping both bags down and pulling a chair up to sit next to Matt and his impressive display of screens.
"So far we're good. Winger started a few minutes ago, he clears the level he's on, scouts the next one with Odoroki, then repeats the whole process. It's slow going, but it's the safest way we can do it."
"How is he dealing with the cameras and patrols?"
"He hasn't run into too many people yet, he's not deep enough for the main patrols yet, so right now he avoids them with the information he got from Odoroki. As for the cameras, I deal with some of them and he's using signal blockers that we installed in his suit to block everything on the floor he's currently on. That includes the cameras, alarms, pressure plates, anything and everything that uses some kind of electronic signal; he's blocking." Matt explained.
"Only for that floor though?"
"Well, we can't block the entire building without taking out the whole power grid which would be a little suspicious. If he uses his suit to block multiple floors at once, he runs the risk of stretching it too far, and one little camera or alarm might not get blocked. If even the smallest thing gets triggered it'd blow the whole operation, so to play it safe, we're doing it floor-by-floor."
"How far down is he?"
"He's clearing the sixth floor right now."
"Of?"
"Best guess? About 28. I can't get an exact read, one thing I can tell you is that they definitely get bigger the further down you go."
"Has he found anything interesting yet?"
"Just some patrol route information and some incoming shipments, nothing we didn't already know."
"How can that thing be 28 levels deep?! And increasing in size?" Curtis practically shouted when the words previously spoken finally settled in.
"I don't know! I've just been rolling with the classic 'bad guy gets his own set of scientific laws' trope that has been pretty much our whole lives. Remember, that's a guess, I can't get a proper read that deep underground at this point."
"I've always hated that trope," Curtis grumbled, "I'm gonna set up. Keep me posted."
"Will do."
I apologize for the long wait, I've been really busy recently and I had a few health problems, but don't worry, I will definitely continue this story all the way to its end. Thank you so much for the support, and for understanding! Chapter 6 is currently in progress, see you next time!
~Kiera540