A/N: The train of inspiration ran me over this time. I was feeling 'nah, don't wanna write' one second, the next, I was 'oh god I can't stop'. But when the muse is calling, you listen. So here's another chapter, full of stealth, action, and some really unlucky censors!
As usual, shout-out to DiLithiumDragon and SandrC for helping me put things together!
"Gross, gross, gross."
Frazie took big, sloshing steps through the sewer sludge, wading her way through the underground passage. To her credit, she at least let Lili ride on her shoulders to spare her the same fate, but when Lefty had promised them a route inside the campus, she'd expected something less... gagworthy. "Why is there even a sewer system in his head, anyway?" she griped. "It's not like anyone here's going to use it."
Lili shrugged up above her, holding the walkie talkie and keeping lookout. "Beats me. I guess he's got some dirty thoughts?"
"Not funny." Frazie made a face, hoping this mental goop wouldn't stain her only good pair of shoes. "Are we almost there?"
"Lemme check with Lefty." Lili flipped the radio on, its buzz echoing through the empty tunnel. "You said go left, right?"
"No, go left, not right," their guide replied.
"Right! Left!"
"Left, right."
Lili facepalmed. "You can't see me right now, but I'm giving you the dirtiest look you can imagine. We're going left. And then the way up should be there?"
"Right!"
Lili shook her fist at the air, growling to herself, then promptly pointed off to the side. "That way!"
Her head spinning from their conversation, Frazie followed along, and to her relief, a ladder sat carved into the wall up ahead. "Thank goodness," she breathed, letting Lili hop off onto it first and climbing up after.
A lid blocked the way, easily lifted aside with a bit of Lili's telekinesis. She hopped out and helped Frazie up, the older girl gladly taking the opportunity to shake her feet dry. To her relief, Lefty knew what he was talking about - they'd reached the other side of the fence. They were inside the compound... but they still had a long ways to go.
They'd popped up in the corner of the large lot. The primary building was on the other end, and there were a load of Permanences making the rounds in between. Dozens of guard-garbed goons swept their cones of vision over the grounds, their flashlight heads bobbing with each step.
"Remember," Lefty buzzed in, "don't let them see you for long... or at all, preferably. If you get out of their line of sight, they'll forget you existed soon enough. And if you stay in it... well, you won't exist much longer."
"You're bad at this whole 'pep talk' thing," Frazie snarked. "Any chance you know a way around them?"
"Their patrol is solid," Lefty replied. "There's not really any gaps. But that's where Invisibility comes in handy. Follow the fence, cut across the middle, and then keep going to the back of the building. That should keep you out of their way as much as possible... if you vanish as needed."
"And we can't just invisi-walk all the way across because...?" Frazie asked.
"Too risky," Lefty's voice crackled. "You just learned it, so it'll only last a limited time. If it runs out in a bad spot, you're a sitting duck. Stick to the plan, and you should only have to use it sparingly."
"Got it." Frazie cut the radio off and sighed, preparing herself. She'd already had enough sneaking around lately, slipping out from under her family's noses and failing to evade a load of angry monkeys... but if it was either this or going toe to toe with the invincible brutes, it was an easy choice. "You ready, Lil?"
"I still think we could take them," Lili murmured, her hand fading in and out while she played with her power. "But this'll all be easier if we can get in and out unnoticed."
"Exaaactly." It was time to move. Repeating Lefty's instructions in her mind, Frazie led the way with her partner tiptoeing right behind.
Just trace the edge behind the buildings for awhile, simple enough. Frazie couldn't help but feel off-put despite it, because that strategy went so well back in Clem's mind. These guards were a whole different breed, though. The girls could be right in front of them, but so long as they stayed silent and didn't touch their lights, it was like they didn't exist.
That didn't mean it was easy, though. Lefty was right - their patrol route was pretty solid. A couple guards had them surrounded on both sides before long, making Frazie's breath hitch as they steadily closed in on them. Thankfully, a quick duck into a nearby alcove kept her and Lili out of sight and out of mind. If the guards turned their heads even an inch, they'd be found out, but these creatures were pretty adamant about sticking to their path.
All the better for them. As soon as the coast was clear, the girls ducked back out and rushed to the halfway point.
This was the scary part. They had to cross the wide open campus, out in plain sight. Which didn't matter much to these entities, truthfully... but as the two stood on the edge, scanning for the right moment to move, they watched as guard after guard swept the area in wide patterns. There was never really a moment where they could cut clean across. They'd have to slip in and out of invisibility to have any chance of making it.
They had to get this perfect. Try to dodge one guard, and they'd bump into another. Their new trick might get them out of a scrape, but not having it at the wrong time could completely shut down their mission.
Finally spotting an opportunity, Frazie darted out, walking quickly but silently as Lili kept to her shadow. A second later, a light swung their way, and a quick dip into invisibility kept them in the clear.
It got trickier after that. A few stationary guards at strategic points required some power use. By the time they were past, they needed a moment to recharge their minds while their bodies kept pace.
Right in time for two guards to head their way, approaching the two from both sides.
"Lili!" Frazie warned, begging her beleaguered brain to spark some stealth, to no avail. There was a thin gap between their searchlights, but would it be enough? Only one way to find out.
"Do as I do," she instructed. She twisted sideways and Lili followed suit, both standing arrow straight with their arms at their sides. Each guard passed by them, their lights bobbing dangerously close to their feet, the girls holding their breath and praying hard as they wedged between their spotlights.
A second later, the Permanences passed by, none the wiser. "Phew!" Lili breathed once they'd gone.
Juuuust a bit too loudly.
The guards immediately jerked back their way. Squeaking, the two campers sprinted away before they could properly investigate. Lili gave Frazie an apologetic shrug once they'd made it to the other side, Frazie waving it off. They'd made it, that was all that mattered.
They could relax a bit now. The rest of their route was a straight path along the other edge, their invisibility carrying them through any more tense situations until they reached their destination.
The main building was far bigger up close - no mind trickery this time, Frazie just had the privilege of not looking at it from across the equivalent of a football field. Resting a hand on its gray brick façade, she fished out the walkie talkie to provide an update. "We're at the back, what now?"
"Good job. Now, you two just need to climb up to the top. You should be able to get into the vents through there."
Frazie's eyes trailed up the building. Sure, it was big, but with some Levitation and a dream, it was more than possible. Already she was plotting a path, looking for bits of architecture big enough to land on.
"That's dumb," Lili's murmur wormed its way past her thoughts. "Vents big enough to crawl through are just a lame cliché."
"Well," Frazie pointed out, "you're small, I'm thin, and we're in the mind of a child who's probably seen too many crime films." Lili didn't really have any comebacks for that one.
Instead, she just popped onto her levitation ball and led the way up. "Still a cliché!"
Rolling her eyes, Frazie rolled on her own orb and bounced high into the sky. She leapt from railing to edge to foothold, finally floating up over the top. By the time she'd caught up to her on the roof, Lili had already melted halfway through the air duct cover.
"Getting a lot of mileage out of that today, huh?" Frazie lent a hand, their combined Pyrokinesis burning through the grate like steel butter.
The newly-carved hole sizzled, allowing them a peek inside. Yep - nice and big. Even a full grown man coulda moved through it, no problem. Frazie tossed Lili a cheeky smirk, inviting some more commentary, but the girl just huffed and crawled inside.
Once they were in, Frazie checked back in with Lefty, and their guide generously mapped their way through the metallic maze. "A few more turns and you should be right above the security room," he explained while they moved.
He'd steered them straight so far, and now was no different. At the indicated spot, Frazie peeked down through another cover to see rows of screens barely visible through the cracks. Manning them all was a lone censor, wearing a nice little guard cap of his own as he scanned for any malevolent thoughts that might want to mess with Maloof's memories.
Sadly for him, the only intruders were right overhead. Frazie dipped her legs into the hole, braced herself, and kicked hard. The covering shot clean off, bonking the poor guy on the noggin and immediately evaporating him in a cloud of smoke.
Frazie took his place, dropping down and catching Lili as she followed after. "Now what do we have here...?" Frazie wondered aloud, checking the feed.
Most screens were empty, just blank rooms and a few censors waddling here and there. But something was going on in what seemed to be the main lobby, the two girls watching with interest.
The goons that'd shook them off were hefting the green safe across the room, stopping before a censor-manned desk. A huge steel vault blocked the way further in, and the little lawyer was the only thing keeping them from moving on with their load. "Got a delivery for ya, pally."
"No."
"What da hell do you mean, no?!"
"No!"
"If da boss wants it moved to high security, it's getting moved! Who cares about the contents! You're not some kinda wise guy, are ya?"
"N-no...?"
"Good. Because I hate wise guys. Now open the door before I open yer skull, comprende?"
Swallowing, the little man swatted at some keys on his keyboard. A moment later, a loud rattling came from the main vault as its door groaned and cracked open. The faceless thug grunted, moving the duo forward again... though not before taking a sudden step towards the censor, making it yelp. He and his pal laughed, carrying on. "What a mook."
They disappeared off-screen, and the girls checked the rest of the cameras. To their dismay, the gangsters weren't showing up on any of them. "There's no cameras in the vault?" Frazie asked.
"I guess if it's a good enough vault, they wouldn't need a look inside if everything bad is kept out." Lili clicked her tongue with annoyance. "Which means if there's any other defenses, we're going in blind."
"Greeeeat." And what kind of high-security bank would it be without defenses? Frazie shook her head. They'd just have to cross that bridge when they came to it.
For now, they needed to figure out how to get past that gate.
When Frazie looked away, Lili was already at the door, tugging it open. "Let's go!"
Out in the main building, the two breathed not a word as they crept from room to room. It was a bit relieving, finally being somewhere well lit and not having to worry about getting mauled by a living flashlight... but that didn't mean they could relax. Censors wandered around, with no predictable route, and the girls had to be careful to pop invisibility the moment they heard their little 'nos' heading within earshot.
Before too long, the two of them peered over the railing overlooking the lobby, just in time to spot the two goons departing - sans safe - down below. Left alone with the lone doorman, the two eyed the censor as he typed an input that quickly swung the vault shut with a loud clank.
"Should we just take him out?" Frazie whispered.
While normally Lili would be gung-ho about something like that, her eyes drifted around the room, settling on something behind the little lawyer. "I have a better idea."
The lobby was sparsely decorated, but there were still some paintings and pillars for flavor... and potted plants. Frazie cocked a brow as Lili focused on one bit of greenery near the censor, brow furrowed in concentration.
All Frazie knew about herbaphony so far was that it let you talk to weeds. Lili promptly expanded her worldview with an awe-inspiring presentation.
The lone ficus began to rattle in its jar. The censor hummed curiously, shifting around to inspect it. A second later... smash! Roots tore out from their confines and took the guy by surprise, coiling around him, muffling him with their thick vines before he could call for help.
"I thought you could only talk with them!" Frazie hissed in an astonished whisper.
"I can," Lili replied with a smirk. "And if you're sweet enough, they tend to be pretty willing to help you out."
Frazie's first thought: Lili? Sweet? And her second: Awesome. Impressed, she watched as Lili hopped the railing and rode a thought balloon down to her new captive. "Now come on!"
One quick descent later, both girls poked and prodded at the censor's computer while he wiggled and strained behind them. Of course it wouldn't be as easy as just flipping a switch - a prompt asked them for a password. Making another call, Frazie radioed for their inside man. "Any chance you've got a password for the main vault?"
Lefty clicked his tongue on the other side of the line. "The code should be... one, nine, seven, five," he responded right back.
Frazie had never really used a computer before, but hitting four keys was hardly rocket science. Or was it? One, nine, seven, five, bzzzzt. Wrong password. She tried again, hitting the keys much more gingerly. Another buzz. "That's not it?"
"What?!" Lefty's surprised shout pierced through the speaker. After a moment, he spoke again, calm yet somber. "That's what it was before. Maloof must've changed it..."
"Well, is there some way around it?"
"I'm afraid not. You're going to need to get that password somehow."
Frazie glanced back to the captive censor. Its muffled 'nos' could be just barely heard around its viney gag. "Yeeeeeah... even if this guy wasn't all tied up, I don't think he'd be very useful for interrogating."
Lefty went silent to think, and Frazie put her head in her hand, at a loss as well. Then, behind her, Lili's voice piped up.
"Seven, one, five, four."
"Huh?" Frazie looked to see her partner knelt down before the plant, looking at her with certainty. Giving it a shot, Frazie typed it in... and the screen lit up green. "How did you...?"
"This guy's been watching them put in codes for ages," she explained, gently patting the plant's leaves. "He's more than willing to share... if we make sure he gets a bit more water." She stood, glaring eye to eye at the shaking censor. "So if you don't want to get creamed back into energy, I suggest you hop to it after we're gone!"
The censor nodded as best it could, both relieved and terrified, and Frazie couldn't help but sympathize with the awful day it was clearly having as the vault slowly cracked back open. Putting on a smile, Lili waggled her fingers farewell at the little guy as she joined Frazie at the door. "Don't forget!"
"Alright, one obstacle down," Frazie counted off. "And hopefully not anymore... to... oh."
The door had opened up into a long hallway from hell. Wires hung at various angles, electricity crackling between them. If that wasn't bad enough, they'd sometimes reel back into the wall and pop out somewhere else, turning it from an obstacle course into an unpredictable nightmare.
Even Lili seemed aghast. "Neurons," she recalled aloud. "They transmit signals all around your brain. And apparently make for a good defense system if they're placed right, too..."
Yeeeeah, nope. Turning on her heel, Frazie marched right back to the computer and fiddled with it. To her dismay, all she managed to do was open up Solitaire. "Saaaay... any chance you'd be willing to shut these things off for a second?" Frazie asked the censor in her nicest voice. Firmly ensnared, the goon gave her a nasty look. "Yeah, didn't think so."
With a sigh, she rejoined Lili, hands on her hips. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
"You don't mean...?"
"Yep." Carefully, Frazie arched a leg over the nearest wire, holding her breath as electricity coursed right underneath her. "Watch your step."
Tentatively, Lili followed after her. It'd already been a pretty tense trip - getting shot at, sneaking between guards and censors, certainly nothing to relax about. But none of it was close to as terrifying as the silent dread gnawing at them as they crawled over and under various wires, flinching when one whooshed away nearby and snapped back into place somewhere else.
One wrong move, and they'd be fried.
Each girl went at their own pace, with their own advantages. Frazie's long legs and athletic grace made it easy to vault and duck beneath criss-crossing sparks, but Lili's height made it even easier to just crawl under tricky swathes of wire. Going slowly, carefully, they steadily made progress.
There was another pro Frazie had that Lili sadly wasn't quite on par with: swift reflexes. The shrill whip of a wire receding made Frazie jolt in place... and to her horror, she could see it preparing to refire right at her fellow camper.
"Lili!" she screamed.
Lili had just enough time to whip her head and see the wire poised to launch. Shouting out, she realized she had nowhere to go... but up. It was time to put her recent lessons to the test.
Turning to the nearby wall, she ran her feet up it and backflipped, just in time for the wire to slice under her. She shifted just enough in her fall to land with the surge of voltage buzzing right by her hip. Sucking in a deep breath, Lili trembled just slightly before sidestepping away and moving to hop over the next obstacle.
Frazie would applaud proudly if they weren't in a life-or-death situation. Instead, she shot her a fond and relieved smile before taking the next careful step. "Almost there..."
With only a few more scares and thankfully no more brushes with danger, the girls passed the rest of the corridor and stopped to recuperate, their hearts racing a mile a minute as they stooped over. "Please tell me that's it..." Lili groaned.
No such luck. One second, they were on their feet. The next, they were flipping, tumbling backwards.
They flew, lifted wholly off their feet and tossed back. When the world stopped spinning, Frazie could see they were in a room that hummed and buzzed. After a second, pressure built in the air around them before the walls at the far end suddenly pulsed, sending a wave of energy that knocked the girls back again.
They were dangerously close to getting pushed back into the neurons. "It's trying to repress us!" Lili exclaimed, desperately seeking something to hold onto.
But the room was bare. Already, the air was tingling again as it built up another forceful charge.
Not if Frazie had anything to say about it. Her hand lashed out and pulled Lili close, and right before the next blast came, she threw up her shield.
Even with the barrier holding them steady, the force was immense, making their hair fly back as if caught in a wind tunnel. But with most of the pressure bouncing off her shield, Frazie was free to grit her teeth and press them on through it.
Turning around to protect Lili from the brunt of the blast, Frazie walked them backwards across the room, occasionally pausing as the powerful pulses kept her in place. She only had until her mental energy gave out to get them through, or the shield would drop and they'd get launched right back where they started... or worse. Her eyes shutting tight as she poured all her focus into her protective instincts, she kept shuffling in reverse, edging them closer and closer to the far side.
At last, they made it. Dropping the barrier and Lili along with it, Frazie flopped on her rear and groaned, rubbing her temples. "What could possibly be next...?"
"We're there."
"We're...?" Frazie's head whipped back. To her relief, she saw they'd arrived in a massive octagonal chamber. Then, to her horror, she noticed that the walls were filled to the brim with loads upon loads of memory vaults. Hundreds if not thousands of little green creatures, snoozing and frolicking and pacing behind glass panels.
Frazie's gaze shifted back and forth along the edges, failing to count the massive metal horde. "How are we going to find the one we need?!" she groaned, hanging her head in her hands.
In response, Lili held out a finger, waving it towards the center of the room. "I think it's that one."
Confused, Frazie followed her digit to see a wide pit in the center of the room. And there, snoozing on a pedestal at the bottom, was a lone vault. Too deep for them to have any chance of getting back up if they went in, but completely out in the open. Alone, unprotected.
Which begged the question: How did they fish it out without falling in?
Frazie quickly slapped a fist in her hand as the answer came to her. "Lili! Telekinesis me close to it, and I'll use my own to pick it up."
A sound plan... with one problem. "Yours is a lot stronger than mine - I might drop you," Lili pointed out.
Frazie's lips quirked, knowing she had a point. Still, not a problem. They just had to switch the roles around. "Alright... then I'll lift you over, and you pick it up?"
After a second, Lili gave a nod. With her permission, Frazie gave herself one more moment to rest up before standing and concentrating, lifting her friend up off the ground in a solid mental grip.
Pacing to the edge, she extended her reach, carrying Lili down into the pit. The girl stayed completely still, her body floating along at Frazie's will, trying not to break the older girl's focus. Frazie moved her far, but in the end, the safe was still out of reach by the time Frazie had hit her range limit. But that's where Lili's telekinesis came in.
Using her own powers, Lili touched her temples as she floated in the air, gently prying the safe off its platform. It snoozed even as she lifted, its legs dangling in midair as it slowly rose up. For a second, all was going according to plan.
Then, it stirred. Its eyes popped open just a tad, drowsy.
Lili froze. "Frazie!" she called back as quietly as she could. "If it starts struggling, I don't think I can keep holding it! What do I do?!"
Uh oh. Eyes flitting back and forth between her friend and the safe, Frazie refused to come this far only to lose to an interrupted nap. "Uhhhhh... I don't know! Soothe it back to sleep with a lullaby?" she called right back.
"Soothe it?" Even quiet, Lili's disbelief was palpable. "Has there been a single moment since you met me where you thought 'oh, this girl is soothing'?!" she hissed.
The safe stirred again, eyes open just a bit wider, and Lili swallowed nervously. With no other options, the girl sighed deeply and silently, trying to keep her concentration going as she shifted her voice to a more melodic tune. "Rock-a-bye vaulty, no need to shout. Keep your eyes shut, or I'll knock you back out...!"
Yeah, that was the exact opposite of soothing. The safe's eyes suddenly jolted wide open, spotting the two intruders trying to steal it away.
It squealed. Loudly.
Just as Lili feared, it started flailing, breaking her hold on it and dropping back down into the hole. Its fearful cries filled the room, and all around them, other vaults picked up on its terror and joined it in panicking.
The chamber filled with non-stop whining and crying, like an animalistic alarm. Which was a pretty apt way to put it, because once the entire stock of memories started freaking out, the actual alarm suddenly blared like a constantly sounding buzz.
"What did I say...!" Lili spat. But there wasn't any time to gripe about her lyrical skills, because the rim of the chamber was suddenly bending inwards.
"Whoooooa!" Frazie started to slip as her platform became a ramp. Soon, she was on her way down into the pit right after them. Letting Lili go, the two of them inflated their thought bubbles and rode down to the bottom, all whilst their target ran around in frantic circles.
Immediately upon touching the ground, Frazie called for Lefty. "We're in trouble!" she barked into the walkie talkie. "We're in the main vault, and the alarms are going wild!"
"I know!" Lefty replied, and his response made an already bad situation ten times worse. "Maloof knows! He's sending some men in! You need to-!"
Bzzt. The radio cut off, and the room suddenly began to flood with portals. Red ones, spitting out censors, and bigger ones, popping out a few gun-wielding goons, none of them looking happy.
Could it get worse? Yes. Even bigger portals popped open, spitting out larger censors with brass knuckles primed for punching. Frazie took a few steps back as they stomped forward, their sleeves ripped from their bulging muscles.
And it could still get worse.
The biggest portal of all slid open, and out of it stepped an unfortunately familiar lack-of-face. Mikhail's representation stooped down on the other side to step into the chamber, grunting with annoyance when he noticed the two interlopers. He growled. "Coming here was first and last mistake."
He held up his fists, and in a flash, golden knuckles materialized around them. Gleaming in the light, lettering spelled out an ominous message, split in half on each hand.
VENGE-ANCE.
Gulping, the two girls stood back to back, surrounded on all sides by more than a dozen enforcers all ready to throw hands. Guns cocked, knuckles cracked, making it more than clear they weren't getting out of this without a fight.
Shooting the memory vault a dirty look, the little loudmouth cowering in the corner, Frazie readied herself to brawl. "You with me, Lili?"
Worried, but determined, her friend nodded and held up her fists. "Let's do this!"
Hoooo, that chapter was almost VERY different. It was originally just going to be cliche stuff like laser hallways, but I thought up more unique and brain-themed replacements at the last second. Plus, I couldn't think of a proper way to fit Lili's herbaphony in, but a user's comment inspired me to rethink it. I'm pretty happy with all the changes! Now it should really feel like a mind heist.
Now, it's time for Frazie's (technically?) rematch with our favorite grappler.
