Wolves' Warehouse
Grey once again woke up from a deep slumber and as his eyes started to adjust to the low light level he could make out that he was back in his studio apartment. However judging from how uncomfortable he was he was not in his bed.
"Was last night just a dream?" Grey asked himself, though as he started to sit up he felt a sharp pain shot through his chest. "Nope, nope, definitely not a dream."
As he sat back on his coach he could still feel the bruises from the last night. Grey lifted up his shirt revealing many bright red welts scattered around his chest. But as he lowered his shirt back down over his chest he felt another sharp pain shot through his chest. Even as he started to get off his coach he felt another jolt of pain ripple through him. Once Grey had gotten to his feet he hobbled to counter where he leaned against it as he gripped his chest trying to nullify the pain. Though as he rested against the counter he looked over to a clock that rested on the wall across from him.
"Uh…." Grey grunted out as he lowered his head, "I am going to be late again." Grey waited a few moments before he pulled himself off of the counter. Then with something akin to a reluctant sigh he proceeded to his door to leave his place.
It wasn't a long walk for Grey but it gave him time to think about what happened the previous night. More importantly, how his skills have dulled over those last 5 years. Back before that fateful night, he could have taken the four of them without having one escape, more importantly, he would've never needed to have used his semblance. Even though he would've been alone Grey knew he could have dealt with them in his prime.
As Grey got closer to his destination his mind began to clear and refocus on the job ahead. As Grey rounded the corner he saw the little shop that had been his place of employment for the past five years. Titan Motorsport, a small custom shop that had hired Grey on as simple go-getter, but through the years he managed to become a skilled apprentice for them who would help on custom builds.
Grey opened the front door ringing a small bell that hung over the doorway. The small room that he entered was dimly lit with a couple chairs in the corner close to the doorway. Then across from the chairs was a desk with a man holding up a newspaper concealing his face.
"You're late." The man behind counter stated as Grey closed the door behind him.
"And you are still reading a newspaper." Grey responded, "But yeah, sorry about that sir, I had a late night."
Once Grey finished his apology his boss folded up his paper and laid on the desk revealing an elderly gentleman who had lost most of his hair from years in the trade. He may have had a clean dress shirt on but from the grime on his hands you could tell he still worked under the hood from time to time.
"I don't really care about why you are late," Grey's boss explained, "Late is late. You know my opinion on that. But you are here now so I guess you can get to work, here's a work order for some electrical rewiring for some young kid who has too much money."
Grey walked over to the desk picking up the work order the proceeded to look over it. "Ah, you saved this for me?" Grey sarcastically asked.
"Well, you are one of my better techs for electrical." Grey's boss stated. "Now get going, you got two hours." With those words, Grey quickly ducked into shop beginning his work.
Grey's day proceeded very much like that for the rest of the day working on odd jobs from installing bar lights to helping to fine-tune the dust mixtures in an engine. Sure at times, Grey had to admit that some of the jobs were tedious but at least it kept him from doing any dishonest work. As the sun started to set Grey went back up front handing in the last work order for his day.
"Well look at you even being late you still finished every job I had for you." Grey's boss stated as he took the work order from Grey's hands.
"Well if there isn't any more work mind if I head out?" Grey asked.
Grey's boss looked over the work order then looked at Grey for a few moments. "What are you still doing? Get going." He said as he gave Grey a wave off.
Then with a sly smile Grey went back into the shop and locked his tools but before he left, Grey lifted his shirt to check on his injuries. The welts on his body had shifted from the red that they were to a deep blue. Though they didn't sting anymore whenever anything came in contact with them.
Once Grey was sure everything of his was locked up he started his walk back home. Though as he left his work the sun had already begun to set in the distance. Though as he rounded a corner he saw something that caused him to quickly fall back behind that last corner. There standing halfway down an alleyway was the one thug that had managed to run away last night.
Though there was something different about him this time around, His suit had become ruffled along with the dress shirt he had on underneath was slightly untucked now. There were stains of dirt and water scattered all over him. Grey could even feel a wave of terror emanating from him. Within an instant, Grey heard a can being kicked from down at the other end of the alleyway. This caused the thug to tense up and jump backwards towards Grey. Once he landed he quickly unsheathed his sword and held it in front of him to no avail. After what seemed like a minute had passed he sheathed his sword before he turned his head around to look behind him. However Grey had ducked behind the corner once again to avoid being seen.
After a few seconds, Grey peeked around the corner to see what the thug was up too. Thankfully the Thug had turned around a proceeded to the far end of the alleyway stowing away his sword under his coat. Grey followed after the thug. although to be safe he made sure to stay out of sight by dashing behind objects. Though once the Thug turned out of the alley Grey rushed to the end hoping to keep him in sight. However, when Grey rounded the corner he didn't see the thug but he did see a crowd of people enjoying themselves in the streets.
Grey at this moment realized that the Thug had disappeared into the crowd making almost impossible to follow him. However Grey was the exception to this scenario because of one slight detail he had over most people. Grey could still feel the Thug's terror radiating from him and could use it in a similar way to how predator could track its prey by smell.
So Grey followed the thug through the crowed keepings distance so not to scare him into a panic. But as Grey was walking through the crowd he had to duck in and out of different groups to try to stay hidden from the Thug's sight. Though this section quickly ended as the Thug ducked down another alleyway. Grey watch him from the entrance to the alley as the Thug quickly turn down another alley.
This how it went on for some time, the Thug dashing down alleyways and streets, and Grey following him down each twist in the road. But after some time their journey came to an end as they arrived in an industrial area. Grey had yet to leave the last alley before he saw the Thug enter what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Though Grey figured that it was far from abandoned anymore.
"Looks like I am not completely rusty after all," Grey admitted to himself as he slowly walked over to the warehouse. "I can still track with the best of them and not be seen. Though now I guess I got another problem here. I could leave and phone in an anonymous tip about a certain building," Grey stated as he was thinking it quietly. "Only problem with that is I have no idea if I would be taken seriously or if I was if taken seriously if they would find anything at all."
At this moment Grey started to look around hoping to find a window or anything that would allow him to have a quick peek in. Unfortunately, there was no other entrance in beside the door the thug had wandered through Though his sight did fall on a couple crates stacked off to the side that would allow him to get onto the roof.
"Or the other option I stay here and get a better Idea what the heck is going on here," Grey Stated as he stared at the crates. "The problem with that is obvious I don't want to get any more involved than I already am." Even after he admitted that to himself his sight was still focused on the box on the side of the warehouse. With a heavy sigh, he started to walk over to the crates and started to climb up.
"I have a bad feeling I am going to regret this," Grey said as he got on to the roof where he could skylights scattered all over the roof.
So Grey walked over to the first skylight that was close to him and peered inside but to his disappointment, all Grey could see was a bunch crate scattered around. But his curiosity peeked a little bit more when he saw the Thug that he was following being escorted by two larger thugs to the back of the warehouse and not in a kind manner. Though they quickly left his sight and Grey looked over the rooftop for the next possible window to follow them. However there off to his immediate left, there was one of the skylights that had been cracked open just wide enough for him to slip inside.
"How come I feel like a certain cat right now?" Grey sarcastically asked himself as he looked down through the open skylight to see an old catwalk hanging just below him. "I am going to completely regret this," Grey stated as he squeezed himself through the light and dropped onto the catwalk.
At this point, Grey followed the walkway all the way down to the end of the warehouse where he saw not only the thug he was tailing and his escorts but also a man who Grey bet was the leader of this group. That man still wore the same black suit with a gold pinstripe going down his suit but he wore it very loose without a single button is done up. Along with a set of sunglass that oddly enough reminded him of the ones that Tanner would wear on occasion.
"About time you got back here." The leader stated as he leaned over a makeshift table with multiple documents scattered over it. "What happened to you and for that matter where the heck is the rest of your little group!" He barked out angrily.
"Sssso…..sorry about that sss…..sir but there … was a problem." The thugs stammered out as he looked straight down trying to avoid eye contact.
"No kidding?" The leader sarcastically asked, "So why don't you tell me what happened!" he yelled however this time he slammed his fist down on the table causing the table to almost split from where he hit it.
"Ron, Cedar, and Brick got taken out by….by…..by something. I…I…I don't even know what it was." The Thug choked out as his head started to dart back and forth.
"Well, that kind of lines up with what our informant said" The leader stated a lot more calmly as he started to walk around the table "But what do you mean 'by something'? Don't you know what you saw?" He asked this time fixing his gaze solely on the thug.
"Well…ll it looked human … but there is no way it was." The thug stated, "Just at the end of the fight it…..it changed its arm somehow into….something from the pits of…..." however before he could finish his thought his boss jumped in cutting him off.
"Ok, before you go on any further I hope you know how crazy you sound right now." The boss stated
"Yeah, I know this sounds crazy but…." The thug said before he was interrupted once again.
"OK, ok, this is enough!" the boss yelled before he pointed towards one of the men who had escorted the thug in, "you two!" he forcefully shouted "get him out of here. I don't care what you do to him just get him out of here"
At the moment the escort started to drag the thug away but only to have him plead "NO, no, no, no! you have to believe me" the thug cried out clawed at his escorts
But before the thug was dragged too far away the boss turned back to his table where he pulled out a map the problem for Grey it was too far away to make it out. So Grey carefully started to lean over the railing trying to get a better look. Unfortunately, has he but some of his weight onto the old railing it collapsed causing Grey to tumble down landing into a bunch of crates. As he started to get his bearings again he looked directly in front of himself to see a bewildered boss and a ton of henchmen that were hidden from his view from up on the catwalk.
"That's it!" The thug yelled pointing towards Grey as he fought out of the grasps of the two man that were dragging him away. "That's the thing that beat Brick" He yelled as he started to run away.
At that moment the Boss turned to Grey looking him dead in the eye, "So is this true? Did you beat them" he asked as he bent down to get a look over Grey then after few moments he got back up and walked away from Grey. "So what are you doing?" he asked as he walked away.
"Well, I was heading home when I guess I made a wrong turn" Grey joked as he felt something tap his left hand. With the boss' back still turned to Grey he quickly glanced down to see what had touched his hand. There in two small clear vials was some finely ground Dust that Grey could only assume came from the crates he landed on. So he quickly rolled them under the palm of his hand to hide them the best he could without making an obvious scene.
As the boss got back to the small table he just started to giggle a little, "To joke in the face of certain death." The boss said as he turned back around to look directly a Grey once again. "I will give you credit for that, but you're not going home now," he said before he gestured to two men behind him as he turned to leave "Take care him."
As the two man got closer to Grey he quickly spoke up, "Hey" Grey yelled out. "Mind if I say one thing?" he asked towards the boss which caught his attention.
The boss turned around and looked directly at Grey once again, "Sure I'll give you that." He said with a smile on his face.
"Catch," Grey said as he loosened the caps of the dust vials and threw them towards the boss and the two thugs causing a blinding explosion. With that distraction, Grey slipped behind another mountain of crates as he started to head to the door that he saw before he entered.
But before he could get halfway to the front of the warehouse Grey could feel a wave of anger erupt from about where he was before he heard the boss. "Why are you standing around!?" he yelled, "Find him!"
As Grey slowly crawled in the shadows behind the boxes he could feel anger erupting all around him. But he didn't have the time to worry about that at this moment as he darted between crates trying to keep himself concealed. But as he continued through the warehouse he noticed a manila envelope that was resting on a crate but had fallen down because Grey had brushed aside it.
Though at first, he paid it no mind to it when he looked back to make sure he was clear it caught his eye for a single line on top of a sheet that fell out of slightly. 'Procedures to help move items to,' even though it was a single line of text it gave Grey the hope that he could give this to the military. With that he tucked the sheet back into the envelope and secured it inside of his coat then with that he proceeded onward.
After a while, Grey Finally reach the front of the warehouse only to find two thugs standing in front of the door. At this moment Grey instinctively reach for his weapons only to remember that he left them back at his place. "How am I supposed to get past them?" Grey asked himself. With that, he looked around trying to find something to help him out. However, there was nothing immediately around him except for the crates he was hiding behind.
So with desperation settling into him, Grey took his prosthetic arm an elbowed a crate causing multiple vials of dust spilling outwards from the hole. However, the sound of the breaking boards attracted the two guards towards him. But when they look behind the crate they couldn't find anything besides the vials scattered around. Though as they turned around Grey came back from around crate and threw a vial of lightning dust. Causing both thugs to convulse from the electricity coursing through their bodies. Then as they both collapsed on to the ground Grey quickly rushed out of the door and kept running for a while.
"I am going to be late tomorrow aren't I?" Grey said as he leaned against a wall two blocks away.