Chapter 18 - "Tailor-Made Terror" - Recon
Sly sat perched high upon the edge of a building, the moonlight filtering through the lens of his binocucom as he surveyed the desolate streets below him. Dialing in the focus to rest on an unassuming shop across the path, he snapped a quick picture of the storefront before stowing his device.
A large black facade ran the length of the front of the store, the name 'Vakaruni' displayed proudly across it in flowing, back-lit script.
"Not exactly hiding, are we..." The raccoon lowered his cane, tightening his grip around it as the chilling air stiffened his fingers. Hooking the tip of it around a drainage spout with a metallic clink, he swung down and alighted on the uppermost platform of a rusting fire escape, the metal groaning softly as it settled beneath his weight. Pulling out his binocucom once more, he flipped open the display and brought it towards his vision.
Bentley's portrait appeared in the lower left corner of the display, a blurred computer screen reflected dimly in his glasses. "Good work, Sly... As far as first impressions are concerned, it looks just like any other shop in the city."
A flash of static appeared where Bentley had been, making way for the hazy outline of Luc. "A facade, you can be sure of it. She has been outfitting the lower levels of the structure to act as a central command for her surveillance operation. With what I have heard, she has quite the operation stemming from this location."
Bentley reappeared. "He's right, Sly. I've been running a few scans of the surrounding area since we arrived," there was a short span of intense typing heard across the communicator, "Even though most of my gear was left behind, I'm still picking up a ridiculously large electromagnetic presence emanating from just below the main entrance of that shop. As you've probably guessed, we need you to find a way inside so we can find out what exactly we're up against here."
"Is that all?" Sly replied sarcastically, already in the process of folding the screen away.
"Be careful! We don't-" flipping down the screen and placing it out of his way, he hopped onto the railing of the fire escape and launched himself towards an electrical line that spanned the distance between the two sides of the road. Running effortlessly across the thin wire, he crouched against the back of the 'Vakaruni' sign as he gathered his wits about him.
Of all the parts of a heist, this had always been by and far his favorite. The skill that it involved to find his way into impregnable locations, placing himself sometimes only feet from less-than-desirable individuals for nothing but the sake of preparation... Oh how he loved the simplicity of it all; to get in, get through, and get out. Alone against the elements with nothing but his own skill standing between him and certain failure, this was what had been missing from his life.
Was it all worth it?
The thought stopped him in his tracks. His eyes, no longer searching for an entrance, now found themselves darting back and forth in uncertainty. Was it all worth it? Things had been so calm only a few short days ago; he and his friends were safe and well enough off to last the rest of their lives in relative seclusion, but now... They were back in the field, back where he knew they all belonged, but that calm was torn away. These 'Numbers' were nothing like the Klaww gang or Furious Five. The latter had killed his family, but how many innocents had these monsters gone through trying to find something that might not even exist? This wasn't Clockwerk, he knew they could defeat Clockwerk, but Ambroise... Even thinking the name sent a shiver down his spine. This had to be it, he decided, his grip tightening around his cane and a quick breath sending a plume of steam flitting about him. If- 'No, no thinking like that.' -When they all finally finished this and got rid of the tiger, he was going to disband the gang.
He huffed at his realization; it wasn't worth it any more to be up against this much danger. He had a life, he had his friends, he had a family, and most importantly, he had Carmelita.
Back to the present, however, he refocused his eyes on his immediate surroundings. There would be no going back to the past if he didn't put his all into the present. He'd bring it up with the gang later, he decided. Catching a shimmer of metal out of the corner of his eye, he strode cautiously to the side, taking great care to remain in the shadows, and used the tip of his cane to spin open the bolts holding the ventilation grate in place. A burst of warm air struck him as the cover lilted to the side, a sharp contrast to biting cold he had been wrapped in since leaving the safe house. Ducking quickly into the narrow passageway, he stowed his cane and began to crawl forwards into the darkening interior.
The winding shaft seemed to trail on and down for far longer than it should have, giving Sly ample time to retreat back into his thoughts. So none of this was worth it, was it? Maybe that wasn't quite the right way to put it. The adventure wasn't worth the danger, but protecting others was worth everything, and if protecting others meant crawling headfirst down a dark hole into parts unknown, then so be it. If protecting others meant a calm lifestyle in the shadows, however, just as well. All he knew, however, was the now. He had to keep pressing forwards.
The tunnel finally played itself out at another grating. Pulling himself close to it, his body, conditioned through an entire life of subtlety, didn't make a sound as he pulled out his binocucom and looked around the small interior room he was presented with. Finding no trace of guards immediately around, he pushed the grating to the side and lowered himself to the floor.
Taking a few cursory looks around his new surroundings, Sly found himself in a guardroom of sorts; there was a small CCTV panel on the wall, the screens displaying various scenes of seemingly normal locations around the city. A large window covered the majority of the leftmost wall, which quickly drew his attention. Crouching down as he approached it, he peeked over the edge and flipped open his binocucom once again.
The room beyond the glass was absolutely filled with surveillance equipment. Computer monitors with digitized building plans littered the walls, and large metallic machines with innumerable wires and connections sprouting from them covered the floor. A dozen or so workers of various races in white coats paced idly between the machines, checking displays and marking readings as they went about unknown tasks. One device in particular, however, garnered the majority of Sly's attention. Standing against the far wall, with ventilation tubes trailing in every which direction, was what appeared to be a massive archway. Quickly pulling his binocucom up, he snapped a quick picture of it before the outer ring began to illuminate. Squinting his eyes against the onslaught of light, several of the workers nearest the machine began to move quickly away from it as it roared to life. Without warning, several of the tubes connected to the device burst free of their holdings and vented steam into the room, triggering several warning lights as sirens began to make themselves audible over the deafening growl of the arch.
As quickly as it began, however, the fog began to clear and the frantically running workers began to slow as they got the sirens and warnings under control.
"I told you IDIOTS to tighten the vents!"
Sly turned quickly to face his binocucom at the new voice that had arisen out of the fray. Standing in a doorway, just to the left of the still-sputtering arch, was a ferret-like woman dressed in a white coat much like those she commanded, though hers was decidedly more flattering. Running her slender fingers through her hair, she let out a long sigh as she visibly relaxed her shoulders.
She muttered something to herself under her breath, but Sly couldn't quite make it out from the other side of the glass.
She began to curl her lips upwards in a smile, locking her gaze on one of the workers who busied himself at a console near her.
"Conwell~..."
The unfortunate focus of her attention folded his ears flat against his skull, trying to make himself as small as possible, a difficult task considering his size.
"Y- Yes, Celine?"
The mink began to close the distance between them, sauntering casually over. She took a clipboard into her hand from atop an adjacent station as she drew closer, flipping idly through the pages before settling on one with a twitch of her brow.
Taking it into both hands with a flex of her fingers, she quickly drew back and struck the unfortunate soul a solid blow to the head, splintering the board and sending a number of sheets off in all directions. The creature hit the floor with a thud, only to be lifted bodily up by his collar and drawn within inches of the face of his assailant. Reaching a hand blindly behind her, Celine allowed one of the falling papers to fall into her grasp. Whipping it around, she jammed it before the face of her victim.
"42-A!" she growled, reading off the specifications detailed upon the sheet between them. She began to shake both objects in her grasp fiercely, her voice rising in pitch. "I said to monitor intersection 42-A and make sure that the dilation did not rise above the values that are CLEARLY STATED RIGHT HERE."
Her ears perked upwards and swiveled themselves in Sly's direction. Instinctively ducking below the cover of the windowsill, he only just managed to avoid being spotted as she roved her eyes across the vacant security room.
"Why are you even out here!" She threw both him and the now crumpled sheet of paper harshly towards Sly's location. "Get back to your post in over-watch," she continued, smoothing down the ruffled fur along her neck and arms as she began to pace back to where she made her entrance, smoothing her disheveled appearance once more, "I have to ready myself for the customers. We do have a business to run, yes?" She took yet another deep breath, closing her eyes. "If you buffoons will get things in order, we'll all be set for an early retirement."
Sly folded down his binocucom after snapping a quick few pictures of the interior of the security room and tucked it away. Not wanting to stay and chat with the poor soul limping his way towards this supposedly-empty room, he jumped effortlessly into the vent above him and replaced the grating. Maneuvering himself around in the slightly awkward confines of the ventilation duct, he turned himself around and began to slink his way silently back towards the surface.
Several minutes later, Sly found himself once again perched on the building across the street from Celine's shop. After relaying the pictures and information back to Bentley, who had in turn relayed new targets, he made a brief bound off the edge and made his way to the next point of interest.
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