HEART, AND EAR, AND EYE
Job 10: Laser-guided Honor
Carmelita makes her way through the city with the sort of care she's only ever used when trying to track the Cooper Gang. She looks behind her often, turning in a slow circle to check in all directions; she jumps sideways or backtracks every few hundred yards, keeping her movements unpredictable. She keeps to the streets, mostly. Thaddeus has the rooftops; every so often she'll dart in an alley below the house he's on, or he'll leap from one house to another over her. They're never more than a street away from each other, never further than a yell for help. Having him with her is every bit as good as having Constable Cooper partnering with her as they go after spice dealers and forgers. Almost. Though Carmelita will never bring herself to say so, the way Thaddeus stays calm and quiet beside her is almost unnerving, and she finds herself missing Sly's never ending stream of flirty chit-chat.
Ugh.
Carmelita doesn't take to a rooftop until she's across the street from the lamp maker's shop. Thaddeus joins her there. "Are you ready, Miss Fox?"
"It's Inspector," she tells him. "Inspector Fox."
He tips his hat to her. "Forgive me if I don't use your title just yet; I would rather 'Miss Fox' come to my lips faster than your proper name if an enemy is around."
Carmelita's been undercover enough to see the sense of this. "Fine," she says, looking across the street. The lamp maker's is an elegant two-story brick building, the shutters closed and lights off for the night. "Is the shop on both stories?"
"That is unlikely," Thaddeus says. "Were this a normal shop, I'd say the family lives above it; beds, a kitchen, perhaps a parlor up top. Given what we have seen so far, however, I'm more inclined to believe there is some traps and treachery up there. I have my disguises with me, in case they are needed."
Carmelita nods, her gaze on the building. "But first we have to get in."
Play resumes as Thaddeus, with Carmelita on the roof beside him. She has her shock pistol out and is standing at attention, alert and aware, keeping an eye on him. Murray talks to them through their earpieces: "Bentley was looking at the skem—the shine—the blue design things for this place," he says. "I don't know what you'll find inside, but the best way to get in is through the chimney." A way-point appears over the chimney of a neighboring building, then vanishes to reappear over Carmelita's head. "Sorry." That one vanishes, too, to appear over the proper building's chimney at last.
It doesn't take long for Thaddeus to scale the building: a bit of climbing, a few ninja-spire jumps, and he's reached the roof. A few moments later and he's through the chimney, emerging on the other side with soot on his hat. He removes it and dusts it off. He's in an entryway on the first floor of the building, the front door in sight, a hallway stretching into the unknown to his left. There's a second hallway, a set of stairs, and a door, but those are shut tight and blocked by lasers.
Thaddeus shakes his head and opens the front door, letting Carmelita in. He closes it behind her and waits while she rings out her tail, her eyes flicking to the lasers. "I don't know how to turn those off."
"That won't be a problem, Miss Fox," says Thaddeus. He nods towards the one place they can go. "I'm certain we will find something, or someone, of use down there. I can change into my bright orange worker disguise when the R1 button is pressed; I have a second disguise, which I modeled after the guards' outfits, assigned to the L1 button. I can use my guard's disguise to keep people out of the room you're working in and my worker disguise to talk to people. If I need the passwords and have forgotten them, they are still written in the gadget menu."
Play resumes as Thaddeus makes his way down the hall. He emerges at the end into a kitchen. On one wall is an oversized switch. Three guards stand in front of it.
Thaddeus changes into his workman's disguise and approaches them. "Halt!" cries one. "What is the ground password?"
"Square triangle circle x," replies Thaddeus, very smoothly. "I'm surprised you guards are taking passwords even in here. That is excellent work. You should be commended."
The wolf puffs up his chest, while the owl preens. The porcupine slicks back her quills and says, "Just doing our duty, sir."
"But not every guard would," he says, still in a tone of obsequious flattery. "They'd think, why, I'm in here, so they may not need to password check me. You are very good at your jobs."
If it's possible, they all swell more. "It's a duty, and an honor," says the owl. "Did you come here on a break, or for some purpose?"
"I'm helping modernize this building," he says, with the air of one who's mildly embarrassed. "To be perfectly honest, I don't understand everything our esteemed madam has asked me to do... but I know I need that switch pulled to do it."
"Our boss lady is the smartest spider alive," says the wolf. "Why, I bet she's a hundred years ahead of the times—more than that! I'll help you out, buddy." He pulls the switch.
Play switches back to Carmelita in the main room as the laser grid in front of the stairs switches off. "I'm going upstairs, Thaddeus," she says, and doesn't wait another moment before ascending.
Upstairs is a single landing: no hallways, no solid dividing walls, and altogether too large to actually fit inside the building. A single room, the door cracked, lays tantalizingly close to where Carmelita stands. The spotlights, laser-covered floor, laser grid walls and almost nonexistent places to stand safely will make getting there difficult, if not impossible.
Murray's voice crackles into her ear. "Oh! Oh! I know what Bentley would say if he saw this. He'd tell you to look at the ceiling!" A waypoint flickers into view in the far corner, a place seemingly as impossible to get to as the other room. There's a hole in the ceiling there, or something.
Getting there requires several well-timed leaps over, through, and under moving lasers while landing on the few bare patches of floor there are available. Thaddeus climbs the stairs while Carmelita crosses, but waits at the top of the stairs, unmoving, calling encouragement through the binoc-u-com. Carmelita lands the last jump, directly below the hole, when she hears Sly's voice in her ear: "Something's going on."
"What is it?" asks Murray; Carmelita wrestles her binoc-u-com out and switches the feed to show Sly's view. The Contessa emerges from the tea shop, her umbrella failing to protect her from the rain.
Sly found her.
"I could take her," Sly says.
Carmelita can't let that stand. "Don't, Sly," she says, before Murray can. "Bentley's not with her."
"She must be keeping the turtle in the theater," Thaddeus adds through his own microphone. A guard retinue surrounds The Contessa as he speaks. "We must wait for the opportune moment."
"Fine," grumbles Sly, and her screen switches off; Sly must've put his binoc-u-com away.
Carmelita peers at the ceiling and finds a switch up there. One shot later, the lasers flicker out. "There are probably guards in there," says Carmelita, indicating the now-accessible room. "Your turn, Thaddeus."
"Indeed." Play switches to Thaddeus once more. As he crosses the room, he asks, "Do you think Sly returned to the safe-house?"
"Much as I wish he did, there's not a chance in the world," mutters Carmelita. "I'd bet anything you want that he's following her to make sure she doesn't come here, and see if he can find Bentley now."
Thaddeus chuckles. "You may be right."
That's the extent of their conversation before Thaddeus reaches out and pushes the door open. The three owls in there jump, one spilling his coffee; they fumble with their weapons as they turn towards him. "Halt!" cries one. "What's the rooftop password?"
"X circle triangle square," Thaddeus replies.
"Yup, that'll do it," he says.
Another guard gives him a gentle shove. "Of course he knows the passwords. He's here, isn't he?"
"You should still be praised for sticking to your task," says Thaddeus. He shrugs, the light glinting off his construction uniform. "Not every guard would be so diligent, and that's how intruders get through. You are to be commended."
The owl who asked the password smirks at his companions. "I'm well aware not every guard would, but you don't have to worry about us. We're good guards. Now what do you need?"
"I have to access an area behind the barrier wall," Thaddeus said. "Could you please—"
"But of course." The guard moves to the wall and presses a button. "Queen knows we need repairs down there."
This time, Carmelita is waiting for Thaddeus as he leaves the room. "You are—or were—a detective. An officer of the law. Doesn't this bother you?"
"Should it?" asks Thaddeus. He leads the way to the stairs. "Everyone does what they must to survive. For some, that means doing things others view as wrong, hence their illegality. But while they may be on the wrong side of the law, they themselves are doing the best they can, being the best they can be, in a bad situation."
Carmelita snorts as they get to the bottom of the stairs. The lasers in front of the second hallway are gone, and the hallway itself empty, save for a door at the far end. "They're still criminals."
"Miss Fox, if they were working for your organization, would their behavior—checking for clearance even of those who are already inside—be admirable?"
"Of course, but—"
"Many in this area of the city must turn to crime if they are to feed their families, or even to protect themselves." Thaddeus reaches the door first. "They do not deserve your anger or derision; aim it at those who take advantage of their weakness. I shall enter first, in case guards lie within."
He does, but there are no guards in the room—just lasers. Thaddeus holds the door for Carmelita.
Carmelita doesn't reply to Thaddeus, just looks around the room. Like before, there's a spot on the ceiling that seems suspicious; unlike before, there's no second room, just a switch on the wall, completely covered in lasers. Carmelita's going to have to do even tougher jumps than before to reach the switch on the ceiling.
As the lasers power off, Thaddeus says, "I notice you haven't replied."
Carmelita hmmphs. "You know you and Sly are both criminal masterminds."
"But we don't take advantage of others' weakness." Thaddeus waits by the door as Carmelita pulls the switch. "Therein lies the difference. The law protects as much as it cripples. Sometimes, one must be a thief to catch a thief."
Carmelita scowls so hard that play switches back to Thaddeus. He leads the way back to the main room, where the final door is, at last, unlocked. He enters first to check for guards.
A pair of porcupines sit at a table within, mugs of tea at their elbow and cards in their hands; several closed drawers line the wall behind them. One glances at Thaddeus and raises an eyebrow. "Whad'a'ya want?" he demands. "The boss spider has the key for tunnel access; you'll have to ask her if you want to continue the job down there."
Thaddeus straightens his back and glares them down. "What is the ground password?"
"Uh..."
"Wrong answer," Thaddeus snarls, thwacking the guard with his cane. "How am I to know if you are supposed to be here if you can't answer such things? You! The rooftop password!"
"X circle triangle square," she stutters out. "And who do you think you are, a lowly workman, asking us passwords? All you're supposed to do here is repair the plumbing and deliver the goods to The Contessa, and we just finished the second one. You're right on time."
His earpiece crackles. "Uh, what?" asks Murray.
"Darned if I know," says Carmelita, "but there's nowhere else to look in this building. We may as well take this thing with us."
JOB COMPLETE
Thaddeus exits the room, holding what looks like a horseshoe magnet in one hand; he tosses it to Carmelita. She catches it, looks it over, and grins.
Available Jobs:
Alekhine's Gun
Following The Past