Chapter 40: Infiltration
Lunas got a sense of deja vu as he dropped through the window and found himself in the bathroom. Luckily, there wasn't anybody in the stalls this time. Ren was right behind him as he laid out the mechanisms that Blade had made for him. As he looked at all of the metallic pieces, Lunas finally acknowledged the benefits of having someone good with robotics on the team. He picked up a spy drone and activated it, pulling out his scroll as he did so.
"Watch the door, make sure nobody comes in," Lunas instructed Ren before moving to a corner and tuning his scroll into the frequencies the drone was putting out.
Lunas hit the big "on" switch that appeared on his screen and the drone came to life with the characteristic whirr of machinery. His scroll lit up with buttons and dials, making him more than a little confused. He opened a menu and flicked a switch, which turned the complex of buttons into a simple controller. There was an analog stick for movement and four buttons, each for a different move. The "X" button made it jump, "square" made it leap to the left, "circle" made it leap to the right, and "triangle" made it play dead.
"Done messing around?" Ren asked.
"Oh yeah, sorry." Lunas replied, a little disgruntled.
Lunas, in full control now that he had simplified the controls, maneuvered the drone to him and laid his hand on it. Blade had added a special feature where it was possible to infuse someone's aura into it, thereby giving it the ability to use that person's Semblance. Lunas' Semblance was Invisibility, so the drone would inherit this. The aura could only be sustained in the drone for ten minutes, but Lunas could use his scroll to transmit more aura into it from afar.
"Ready." Lunas laid his hand of the drone and watched as Ren prepared to open the door.
He set the drone down and watched as it turned invisible, adjusting to look at the first person display on the scroll. He pushed forward on the stick and the drone moved to the door. Lunas gave the signal and Ren opened the door to the hallway, closing it as Lunas gave another signal.
"Drone is deployed." Lunas said into the throat mic. "Has everyone else gotten in?"
Blade and Hailey watched as everyone else split off to their respective entry points. When they were out of sight, Blade reached into his backpack and pulled out a mechanical grappling hook. He aimed it at the roof and fired, watching as the hook flew up to the edge and stuck.
"Ready to fly?" He asked Hailey as he grabbed the rope.
"Cacaw." She replied, flapping her arms before wrapping them around him to secure herself.
Blade smiled for a second as he felt the warm arms encircle him before pressing the trigger. The rope shot up, pulling the two students with it. They landed quietly on the roof and made their way to one of the skylights.
"Alright, we need to find a silent way to open this door." Hailey said, inspecting the lock.
"I have an idea." Blade reached into his pack again and brought out a blowtorch.
"That's not exactly 'silent'."
"You want to bet?" Blade started the blowtorch, which emitted a blue flame with nary a sound.
"...I stand corrected." Hailey watched as the blowtorch cut through the lock.
Blade waited until the lock was destroyed before shutting off the blowtorch and putting it back in his pack. He opened the skylight and gestured for Hailey to go in.
"Ladies first."
"Yes we are, thanks for noticing." Hailey replied as she dropped by him.
"Welp, that was a mistake." Blade muttered as he followed behind her.
They landed in a hallway and quickly moved to a room. Blade opened the door and started inside.
"Drone is deployed," They heard Lunas say into the mic as they made their way through. "Has everyone else gotten in?"
"We're bunkered down in a room on the target's floor, waiting for closing." Blade responded.
One thing Blade and Hailey had forgotten about was the grappling hook, which still lay where they had left it after using it to get to the roof. A security camera panned sideways to the edge of its reach and caught a bit of it. The control room inside the casino exploded with activity as they realized someone had broken into the facility. Word was sent to the White Fang member, but she dismissed it as a petty problem, fit for the guards to handle. This would prove to be her downfall.
Yang took a deep breath, looking at the beautiful neon lights that lit up the night. She was nervous, but one thought made her open the doors and walk inside.
'For Blake.'
The scene inside was insane: There were slot machines spewing out coins whenever somebody won, roulette tables where people watched as a ball rolled in a circle, poker games with chips stacked feet high, and bars with a lot of drunk people swaying in their chairs and talking loudly.
'Bunch of idiots, who would come here?' She asked herself as she made her way over to the entry desk.
Her job was to find the White Fang operative and strike up a conversation with her, a hard task considering the hatred Yang felt for the woman. The first challenge would be restraining herself from murdering the target on sight. Yang shook herself to clear her head and kept on her path to the bar. One of the things she did best was persuade bartenders to talk to her.
"Hello there, beautiful. What can I do for you?" As always, the bartender initiated the conversation.
"Oh, hi. I was just looking for a friend of mine."
"And who would this be, sweetheart?"
"Somebody called Kaitel, do you know of her?"
The bartender looked around fearfully before leaning in and answering in a quiet voice.
"Listen, that's not someone you want to be asking around for. She's the cream of the crop around here, and she usually gets her way. Now shoo, before someone gets suspicious."
"I'm not going anywhere without seeing her." Yang announced resolutely, placing a heap of lien on the table.
The bartender sighed and gathered the money quickly, making sure nobody saw it.
"She's playing high stakes poker right now, she's the one who always wins. Now get out of here."
Yang thanked him and made her way over to the poker tables, where the yelling was reduced to occasional outbursts as somebody won a hand. It didn't take long for her to find Kaitel, as the shouts seemed to be coming from her table the most. Kaitel had her chips stacked almost to the low hanging light, while the other players had ten at most. As Yang watched, Kaitel won again, raking in the measly amount of chips on the table.
"Drone is deployed, has everyone else gotten in?" Yang heard Lunas say through her earbud.
She made a note of what Kaitel was wearing, then walked over to a bathroom as Blade responded.
"We're bunkered down in a room on the target's floor, waiting for closing."
She locked herself in one of the stalls and brought the mic to her mouth.
"I have located and identified the target. She's at the poker table. She's on a lucky streak, so she might be there a while."
Lunas heard Yang's response and controlled the spy drone through the mostly empty hallways. The only sign of life he saw was the staff cleaning the rooms. The drone continued forwards without a sound, making its way toward the first floor. Lunas' job was to get the drone inside Kaitel's handbag so that they could listen to her conversations. Yang would direct the drone to the target and Lunas would pick the right time to jump inside the handbag. Blade and Hailey would wait upstairs near Kaitel's room and listen for the opportune time to strike.
"Drone is on the main floor," Lunas said into the mic. "Where are you Yang?"
"Just walking out of the bathroom." Yang replied.
Lunas looked around with the drone and spotted a mane of blonde hair.
"I see you, show me where Kaitel is."
Yang led the way back to the poker table, indicating Kaitel when she got there. Lunas positioned the drone behind her and began the waiting game. Luckily, the chance to get in unseen came quickly, as Kaitel won another hand and leaned across the table to gather her small earnings. The drone opened the handbag and hopped in, closing the flap behind it.
"It's in." Lunas said.
"Activate the microphone." Blade responded.
"How do I do that?"
"Third row, fifteenth button from the left."
"I changed to controller mode."
"Well switch it back, there's no way to activate it in controller mode."
Lunas hit a button on the side of his scroll and his screen turned back to one with switches and buttons everywhere. He counted fifteen buttons over in the third row and hit it.
"Did it work?" Lunas asked.
"Yep, I got sound now." Blade adjusted his headphones and gestured for Hailey to do the talking from now on.
"Yang, can you make your way to me?"
"Where exactly are you?" Yang asked.
"Bathroom, second floor, west side."
"On my way."
"Alright guys, just bunker down for a while. We'll get her soon."
It was another two hours before Kaitel finally made her way back to her room, thirty minutes after official closing. Blade had been monitoring every conversation Kaitel had had via the drone and he had already sent the information back to Beacon. He and Hailey were now preparing to break into Kaitel's room and take her hostage.
"Head on over to her room," Lunas said. "She has two bodyguards outside, so take them out first."
"Will do." Blade led the way to the only door with guards out front.
The guards perked up as they saw two unauthorized people walk up to them.
"Hey, you're not allowed to-" The guard was cut off by a swift kick to the face by Hailey, while Blade struck the other with the hilt of his knife.
Blade knocked on the door softly, looking around to make sure there weren't any more guards. The door opened and a tired looking Kaitel poked her head out, only to get pulled out into the hallway. Hailey stuck out her leg and Kaitel fell full length to the ground. Blade knelt down and stuck a chloroform rag in her face. Kaitel rapidly lost consciousness and Blade picked her up. The whole process from the guards to capture had taken a total of ten seconds.
"Got her, now let's get out of here." Blade said into the mic, smiling at how well that had gone.
Author's Note:
So because I am unable to upload tomorrow as I would on schedule, I decided I would release this chapter a day early. Think of it as a thank you for the continued support. I still have that code for a month of free Hulu Plus, just PM me if you want it. As always, thanks for reading and if you you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881