Chapter Eighteen: Break-In

It had taken the rest of the afternoon and the better part of the evening for Lisa and company to plan their proverbial attack on the Institute. It was after 11PM, and Lisa hoped that meant that the building would be at least partially empty.

She was going to drop Gary off at Marissa's, both to sooth the blind woman's troubled mind and to keep Lisa's at ease while she and Ben did what they had to at the Institute. However, she couldn't take him there directly because she'd never been there before, as she could only teleport to places she knew. So, she first brought him home to his loft above McGinty's, and he took a cab to Marissa's with the promise that he'd contact Lisa over their link if anything happened.

Luckily, Lisa's ankle had healed and she'd finally stopped limping and any aftereffects of the toxin in Gary's system had been brought to a minimum, so she didn't have those things to worry about on top of everything else.

The time was closing in on 11:30 when Lisa and Ben arrived at the Institute building. The place was dark, save for a couple glowing windows. Good.

"Not so good," said Ben. "There are probably security cameras and guards."

Irritated, Lisa just bit her tongue to keep from saying anything. In her pocket, she had a vial of the antitoxin. All she needed was a syringe of the original drug and everything would be set.

"Okay," she said, more to herself than to Ben, "we have to get inside. Gary told me he got in through a service entrance around back." Without another word, she headed in that direction.

"And what if the door's locked?"

Lisa's wings twitched and it took all her willpower not to tell him to shut up. They came to the door and, miraculously, found it unlocked.

"This could be a trap," whispered Ben.

Scowling, ignoring him, she went inside, her wings glowing in the semidarkness. Her body shimmered and went transparent; she had gone partially invisible, and only Ben could see her now.

Ben wrapped a strange, silvery cloak around himself. It caused him to become invisible, as well, and Lisa only had a sense of where he was from his heartbeat and breathing.

Together, they made their way deeper into the Institute. When they reached the third floor, they eased the door open as quietly as possible and peeked through. Though dark, the hallway had two security guards patrolling the area with flashlights and walkie-talkies.

They slipped through the door and kept near the walls. Even though they were invisible, little things could still make their presence known.

Passing by a coat closet, a black blob through the smoked glass caught Lisa's eye. She waited until the guards passed out of ear-and-eye-shot, then opened it up. Inside hung Gary's leather jacket.

"Ben," hissed Lisa, "take that. I can't hold it or it'll drain the invisibility power more."

"Aren't we wasting time?" he asked, though he took the jacket anyway. It disappeared underneath his cloak.

Lisa didn't answer him. She closed the door and moved on, finally coming to the room where the vials of the drug were housed.

The room was very sterile and very dark. Lisa dared not turn on any lights for fear of being noticed. She was silently grateful that only she and Ben could see the light coming from her wings.

Glancing around, her eyes fell on a cabinet in the corner. Inside were vials, all clearly labeled. However, the cabinet was locked with a heavy padlock.

"Damn!" she swore as loudly as she dared, turning angrily away from the cabinet and looking around for something to break the glass.

Suddenly, she heard Ben mutter something under his breath, then a click, and turned around just in time to see his arm disappear inside his cloak. The lock was open.

Not caring how that was accomplished, she tore the lock off and opened the cabinet. She scanned the labels, though some of them were those big, long names only scientists could read. She took them, anyway, and filled the sack she had Ben carrying. No need to drain her invisibility powers even more than they would be unless it were necessary.

Inside the room was also a small refrigerator and she investigated that, as well. That's where she found her blood samples and more vials. She took everything. Everything she could find that could even in the remotest way have anything to do with her she took. Ben had to carry it all, though she held one vial labeled "NEUROLOGICAL INHIBITOR". She was positive that was the drug Gary had gotten injected with. She also took two syringes from the counter and pocketed them, as well.

Now, all she had to do was find Von Braun.

End chapter eighteen.