Corporal Henry Irons stalked through the shelving units of the evidence room in his DEO uniform. The collar still chaffed against his aging neck but he'd gotten used to it after a few months of wearing it. A Walkman radio was clipped to his belt with earphones hooked around his ears, light rock music playing in his ears to pass the time. He carried his clipboard, preferring to use pen and paper over the tablet he was assigned. He walked up and down the packed shelves ticking off the items on the manifest. It was his job to double check everything and note any discrepancies. If a new box came in it would be his duty to log it and catalogue the items. Fortunately there were no expected deliveries coming in or going out. That gave him all morning to peruse the shelves and catalogue the stuff they had.
He paused at a shelf holding Thanagarian blaster, lowering his clipboard and adjusting the glasses on his dark skinned face to examine the design and elegant shape. He was smart enough not to touch any of the laine weaponry, but that didn't mean he couldn't admire it. He glanced around the storage area and pulled a notebook from his jacket pocket. Putting the clipboard under his arm he took a pencil and made some notes and sketches of the weapon. Much about this design was incredible and inspirational. It would be a waste not to make a note of it.
Over the music he was playing he heard a clatter that brought his attention up, looking to his left to find one of his three assistants stumbling out from around the corner in a hurry, his key card still jammed into the lock as he tried to zip up his uniform. Henry sighed, removing an earpiece and putting his notebook away, walking up to the young man and removing the key card from the lock. "Up late again?" he asked the young man.
"Yes sir" he replied, stopping what he was doing and standing to attention.
Henry put him at ease giving his key card back. "That's the third time kid. If you want that promotion you need to start getting to your shift on time" he told him.
The man nodded, fixing his uniform until it was straightened up. "I'll do better" he promised. Henry had every faith he was trying. The middle aged man caught two security guards suddenly stepping in front of the entryway to the storage room, their stone faces neutral as they took positions and waited as the door closed shut. The young agent looked over his shoulder and told him "they're been on edge for five minutes now. I overheard one of them talking to the director. Sorry, acting director. You don't think something's going on do you?" he asked worried.
Henry kept his gaze on the guards outside. It was odd how they decided to stand by the door. They never usually did that. He looked up at the security cameras and found them sweeping the room too, one of them stopping looking directly at them. "I'm sure it's nothing" he told the young man. He looked around at the storage room and handed him the clipboard. "I need to finish some logs at the back. Can you finish the inventory here?" he asked him.
The man took the clipboard nodding enthusiastically. "Yes sir. Will do sir."
"Good man" he smiled, clapping his shoulder proudly. He was a good boy, a hard worker when he was on time. He left the young agent to continue, walking calming down the shelves towards the desk at the back where his terminal was.
Halfway down he replaced his earpiece and turned the dial on his Walkman. The music changed to static until he found the frequency he was looking for. "Nobody move into the evidence room without my say so. Don't let anyone leave until authorised" the voice of the chief of security said on the secure channel. Henry had suspected something was amiss. He hurried to the desk and left the terminal running, removing the ID badge from his uniform and placing it beside the keyboard before continuing on to the back entrance. "team two, notify when you're in position" the voice ordered, indicating the back entrance had yet to be secured, allowing the man to slip out into the hallway undetected.
Brainy raced into the building and met the chief of security as soon as he stepped out of the lift. "We've notified security and all entry into the evidence room has been discreetly sealed" he reported, passing the acting director a tablet.
"Is he still inside?" he asked, looking at the tablet showing the location of the tracking chip in every ID tag staff members where. The suspect's tracker places him inside the evidence lockup. "Alright, all of you, with me" he ordered, marching into the base leading the security team briskly.
They nodded to the guards stationed at the doorway and barged inside with a swipe of Brainy's all access badge. The door swung open as they walked in and entered the maze of shelves and confiscated equipment. The young man who had arrived late turned around and found them advancing towards him. "Lieutenant Dox? I mean, acting-Director sir" he corrected, standing to salute the man.
Brainy ignored the gesture, his focus on the task. "Where's Corporal Irons?" he asked the agent.
The man looked at the intimidating security team behind him before pointing down the shelves. "He's at the back doing paperwork" he told them. Brainy pushed past the man, the security unhooking their sidearm as they followed. The young man watched them walk off wondering what was going on, but too afraid to ask.
Brainy marched through the maze of shelves and found the desk with the administrator's terminal. The computer was active but the man himself wasn't here. He looked around and checked the tablet in his hands. The signal remained. He looked down and found the ID badge sitting on the table. DEO agents were told never to remove their badges while on duty, as much about safety as security. He picked it up and read the name Henry Irons looking at the photo of the black man staring back at him. The same photo Nia pointed out to him and identified as the Blacksmith.
He turned on his heels and stormed out the way he came, pressing his earpiece barking with determination "go to amber alert! I want this facility locked down immediately."
An alarm sounded across the base with a monotone voice declaring "THIS FACILITY IS IN LOCKDOWN. PLEASE REMAIN AT YOUR POSTS. PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THIS FACILITY IS NOW IN LOCKDOWN."
Henry looked up from his bag as he collected the clothing and trinkets he kept in his locker. Damn, I thought I'd have more time he thought, emptying his locket and zipping up the duffel bag. He slung it over his shoulder and walked calmly through the locker room passing a pair of half-dressed agents along the way. "Do you think it's another attack?" the young woman asked her male companion.
"God I hope not!" the man muttered with concern, burying his head into his locker hurrying to her the rest of his uniform. The woman did the same, neither of them paying attention to the tall man stepping around them slipping the woman's ID badge into his palm.
Henry stepped out of the locker room and walked purposely down the hallway, his eyes darting around at the worried faces around him either standing still in panic and confusion or racing to their posts. He turned down a corridor when he saw a pair of security guards walking in his direction, keeping his head down as he passed more agents and reached a locked door. The lockdown will have barred most of the key cards from working, but the woman he stole the badge from had high enough clearance to enact an emergency override on the keypad. He made sure to memorise the personnel and security codes for just such an occasion. It only took a few nervous seconds of tapping and swiping to unlock the door, the man stepping into the stairwell and shutting it behind him. He stopped by a panel before he descended the stairs, reaching into his bag for one of his trinkets and twisting the cylinder. He opened the panel, placed the object inside with the wires and circuit boards and closed the panel again before hurrying down the steps.
A few seconds later the panel started emitting smoke as the smell of burnt wires drifted into the stairwell.
"Status report!" Brainy barked, now standing in the hub of the DEO looking at the monitors as every security camera was played out before him.
Around him security and agents gave him their reports. "The lockdown has been implemented, they told him. "All exits are sealed, nobody can get in or out. Security has been alerted on all floors."
"I want Corporal Iron's ID sent to every agent with express orders to find and detain" he ordered, his mind racing. He had come here the moment he confirmed his suspicions. He had called ahead to his chief of security. He took him less than ten minutes to get to the facility. There wasn't enough time for the suspect to get away. How did he know to run? Brainy wondered. Was he tipped off? Does he have another mole in the base? Or does he have access to our secure channels?
"Sir, we have an unauthorised security override from stairwell C" a female agents reported from a computer.
"Who?" the chief of security asked.
She checked her screen. "Michelle Michaels, one of our technicians. Her key card was used along with an override code."
Another co-conspirator? Brainy considered. He was about to order her personnel file when another agent spoke up. "One of our guards just reported in. Michaels has reported her key card is missing, maybe stolen. She's with one of our operatives."
Brainy couldn't discount collusion, but it made the escape path clear. "I want security personal to stairwell C" he ordered, already on the move. "Those stairs lead to roof access and the garage downstairs. Have men intercept at both exits."
The teams split off while Brainy led a group to the doorway the override was used. Next to it was a maintenance lift that would take them to the same places. However there was already a team huddled around the metal doors. "What's wrong?" he asked finding them pushing buttons and fiddling with the control panel.
"The elevator controls seem to be inoperative" the team leader explained.
Brainy narrowed his eyes and used his override to open the stairwell door. He walked into a cloud of smoke coming from the panel in the wall, opening it and examining the scorched cables and smouldering hole seared into the lift next door. Clever he mused, looking up and down the stairs. There was five floors above them leading to the roof, but thirty seven leading down to the garage. He sabotaged the elevator to buy himself time he realised. "I want security at the garage on the lower levels" he shouted as he raced down the steps two at a time. It would be difficult to catch up but not impossible. They were behind by only minutes.
Minutes, however, seemed to be all Henry needed as Brainy finally reached the bottom of the steps. His security team staggered down breathless whereas he was barely winded. He stepped down to the ground and turned the corner leading to the door that lead to the garage. He looked down and found the keypad pried open and Technician Michaels card attached to a thin sheet of metal with wires clipped to the edges. A rudimentary manual override designed to fry the circuits and force the locking mechanism to disengage. He guessed Henry used his descent to construct it in a hurry.
Brainy flung the door open and darted out into the dark garage, sprinting out weaving through the parked cars and transports. His security team spread out and began searching, but Brainy knew they were too late the moment he saw the open gate leading to daylight as the noise of city streets echoed through the large space. "Sprock!" he muttered, coming to a stop in the sunlight spilling into the garage. Alex was not going to like hearing any of this. "Get an APB to all law enforcement" he told his men as they finished searching the carpark and found it empty.
The Blacksmith might have escaped the facility, but he'll be damned if he was going to let him escape the city.