Chapter 11 - Break-Ins and Possessions
"You'll have a package on your doorstep within an hour." Ivan called out as I was in the kitchen making up a late lunch to eat. I had nothing in my stomach before I had left to go see Purveyor earlier that day and I was starving.
"What's in it?" I stuffed the sandwich in my mouth, plopping down on the bed and getting crumbs everywhere. I would have to do laundry soon.
"Something we'll need to access their system." He gave an ambiguous answer.
"Fine. Keep your secrets." I muttered through mouthfuls. "See if I tell you when I discover a new way to use my quirk. You'll be sorry then."
A heavy sigh on the other end was my only reply.
I scarfed down the remaining remnants of my lunch, deciding then to do a few minor chores around the apartment while we waited for Ivan's mystery package to arrive. Being constantly called out to use my quirk left me with little time to do what was necessary to make my apartment livable. I may be lazy, but I was not a slob.
I was running the vacuum cleaner around when my doorbell rang. Setting the vacuum away, I went to answer the door only to find the delivery person long gone. But looking down I discovered a lonely white package on the welcome mat. I brought it inside and tore off the seal.
Shaking out the package into my hand, a small flash drive no bigger than my pinky dropped into it.
Staring down at it, I commented unimpressed with what I saw. "It's tiny."
"And that's good." Ivan chimed in from the laptop. "It means that they won't be able to discover it as easily."
"Ok," I tossed the package material off to the side, and proceeded over the bed. "What's the plan then?"
"In order for this to work you'll need to take that with you." Ivan explained. "When you get there, find a cell phone and call this number." He gave me a phone number to memorize, making me repeat it back to him to confirm that I knew it.
"I'll know it's from you if you call it, and from there I can walk you through the rest."
"Alright. Though it's a bit weird that I have to take something with me this time for you to help me. Are you sure you can't just hack in?" I inquired suspiciously.
"Not from here, no." Ivan sighed frustrated. "But with that thing in your hand I'll be able to access everything we'll need."
"Really?" I looked down at the small flash drive I held. "What is it?"
"It's called a dongle. And be careful with it. Don't lose it or else." His voice grew stern.
"Alright, alright." I acquiesced, making a mental note not to lose Ivan's precious dongle. "Dongle - what a strange word." I chuckled to myself.
"If we can get back to the subject at hand, thank you." Ivan chided. Somehow he always knew where my mind went.
"Sorry." I apologized sheepishly.
He gave an amused sigh before continuing. "You'll need to find a senior official's office so we can access their computer. With any luck their security level will grant us access to everything within their network. It's the greatest chance of success we have for this to work."
"And what if they're still in the office using the computer?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Do what you do best. Knock them out or possess them, take your pick. " Ivan shrugged, not the least bit concerned.
"Easy for you to say when you're not the one swimming around in a different body." I wrinkled my nose. Spirit possession, while one of the many perks of being me, was not my favorite aspect of my quirk. Whenever I possessed a person it was like dawning a suit that wasn't tailor made to me. It was either too big or too tight. It was never a comfortable experience and left my soul feeling weird for a little while.
"Quit your complaining." Ivan chastised, "Like I said, I'll leave it up to you how you want to deal with them when the time comes. Just make sure they don't remember a thing afterwards."
"Don't have to tell me twice." I groaned.
"Now as for the commission building itself," Ivan pulled up a schematic of the building on the screen, "it's large and it's in charge. Lots of security and I can't help you in there, so don't ask."
"Ok." I narrowed my eyes at just how defensive Ivan had become. He was clearly irked that he found something that stood up to his hacking. "Any suggestions for how to get this inside?" I held up the dongle before my eyes, inspecting it.
He paused for a moment, thinking.
"The stairwell." He said confidently. "Once you get inside, the stairwell is a straight shot up to the top. All the floor levels are attached to it for fire safety reasons and on each level there is a high security door that requires a passcode to continue on inside, but you won't need any codes."
"Oh?" I bade him to continue, curious.
"While their security is tight, their ventilation system is old school. One each level next to the security door is an air vent that you can snake the dongle through when you reach there." He explained with a fair bit a pride in his tone. "You'll probably want to aim for the 57th floor." He mentioned further, "Lots of big wigs on that floor judging by the size of their offices. Meeting rooms too. So watch out for heroes."
"Gotcha." I looked over the schematic passively. "Get in. Get out. Don't be seen. Should be easy enough. When do you want to do this?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight?" I blinked questioningly. "Why tonight?"
"Why not?" Ivan retorted. "Like you said - easy in and out. What's the hold up?"
"Fine." I scowled. I had already visited a high security prison earlier that day and now add a late night data grab on top of that, I was going to be exhausted tomorrow.
"That's the spirit!" Ivan cheered. "I'll send you some more of that tea you like as a present if this all works out."
"You better." I grumbled.
Later that evening I hovered before the towering glass building that was the Hero Public Safety Commission. There was already a steady stream of people coming and going to the massive building as the night shift switched over. The hustle and bustle made it easy for me to slip inside the grand lobby and push open the stairwell entrance without drawing attention to the sound of the metal door opening and closing.
When I got inside I was never more grateful to be able to fly than at that moment. Had I been in my body, I would have died before I reached the 57th floor. Just looking at the spiral of stairs above my head made me nauseous and the muscles in my legs burn.
"Thank god for my quirk." I whispered under my breath before vaulting upwards.
The floors whizzed by as I flew, my destination edging closer and closer until I reached the 57th floor. Ivan's intel was spot on. A large intimidating security door greeted me off the landing, bearing several retina scanners, number pads, and a hand scanner. Yet above all that was a six inch box that was the air vent that Ivan had mentioned.
I grinned to myself. This was going to be a piece of cake.
It was only a few minutes later that I was wandering the hallways of the senior officials. The place was littered with offices and several large meeting rooms like Ivan had said, some in active use with the doors closed while others were unoccupied. But I was searching for an office that was out of the way. Somewhere I wouldn't be disturbed for a long time.
I came across a set of double wooden doors with thick metal handles and a very fancy name plaque plastered on the wall next to them. It looked expensive. Whoever's office this was, they were important - and I hoped that they had the security clearance that Ivan needed.
I stuck my head through the door and saw an older woman sitting at her desk typing. She was alone.
"Perfect."
Tucking the dongle by the bottom of the door for safe keeping, I passed through the heavy wood and into the office. Making my way over to the lady, I offered a silent apology to her before jumping inside. Her soul didn't put up any resistance to my invasion, and was smothered into a quiet slumber.
When I opened my eyes I was looking through her's. It was always a weird experience taking over a body that wasn't mine - never something I got used to no matter how many times I've done it. I wanted to get this over as quickly as possible.
Pushing back the wheeled desk chair, I retrieved the dongle from outside the office doors and quickly fished out the cellphone that the woman had in her hip pocket. I dialed the number Ivan had repeatedly drilled into me into the woman's phone.
The line clicked on the other end, and Ivan's voice rang out. "How's things going, sunshine?"
"Swimmingly." I grunted through the woman's voice. It felt strange hearing another voice other than my own, but it was what it was.
"Oh, you sound like an old lady!" Ivan choked out laughing.
"Just get on with it." I growled. "What do you want me to do with this thing?" I rolled the dongle between the woman's thumb and forefinger.
"Right," Ivan got his voice under control, but just barely. "Find the CPU tower to her computer and slowly drag it out. Be careful of the cords."
I walked around the desk and spied the tall silver box that sat there.
"Found it." I said, tucking the phone into the crook between my shoulder and ear as I maneuvered the CPU out from its spot.
Ivan waited a moment for me before continuing. "Now find an empty port on the backside. You're going to plug the dongle into that."
I had to kneel down and crawl under the desk to find an empty port like Ivan had asked. I could feel this woman's body creak and groan, her joints were stiffened with age and it didn't help that she was wearing a knee length skirt.
Mentally I apologized for the abuse I was enacting on the borrowed body while I fumbled around in the dark to plug in the blasted dongle. After the third try, the dongle slid into the port and a small light shone that it was now active.
"It's in." I confirmed, sliding the CPU tower back into its slot, effectively hiding the dongle from prying eyes. I gave a groan as I got back to my feet. Sitting back down in the plush leather chair felt heavenly.
"Give me a moment..." Ivan's voice trailed off and I could hear the clicking of a keyboard on the other end. The computer screen on the woman's desk flickered and hundreds of windows popped in and out of existence. Ivan was in.
"Holy crap." Ivan spoke breathlessly in my ear from the cellphone.
"What?" I questioned loudly, suddenly concerned if something had gone wrong.
"It's fine." Ivan quickly reassured me, "There's just a ton of information here for me to process. You picked one hell of a senior official."
"Anything on Titan Alliance?" I pressed.
"Searching now." Ivan said gleefully. "Oh, that's interesting." His voice rose several octaves in excitement. "And oh, would you look at this! Something here called 'All for One'. What do you think that is?" His voice got giddy as if he was a child with a brand new toy.
"Focus, Ivan. Titan Alliance." I massaged my brows frustratedly. This body was going to have a headache later when they woke up.
"Right." Ivan scolded himself. "I'll just tuck these away for later." He said, whistling.
"Titan Alliance. Titan Alliance. Where are you, Titan Alliance?" Ivan's voice sang out.
I sighed as I waited on him, rolling a pen back and forth across the desk to amuse myself.
"Found it!" Ivan chirped up.
I straightened in my seat, holding the phone closer to my ear, eager to hear what Ivan had to say.
"Titan Alliance," Ivan began reading the file back to me, "is an American extremist organization whose sole purpose is to ensure the continued progression of cultivating powerful quirks in hopes of creating the supreme being. A god."
"A god?"
"That's what it says."
"Sounds like they're a lovely bunch." I mentioned with a frown. "Does it say where they are located? Something a little bit more precise?"
"Exact location is unknown. Their numbers and members are also currently unknown."
I sat back in the leather chair, spinning around to face the large window and the night cityscape beyond.
"So some crazy American nut-job extremist group has Natsu, and we have no clue where or how to find them." I sighed exasperatedly.
"America narrows things now a bit."
"America is a large country." I replied back.
"At least it's a place to start."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath.
"You're right. We can start with that. Do you have everything you need? I want to get out of this body."
"Yessss - no." Ivan quickly changed his answer. "For some reason the network is preventing me from copying the data over to my systems. I'm going to need you to find a flash drive somewhere over there and plug it in so we can take this back with us."
"Right." I muttered, holding the cellphone with one hand while the other was pushing and pulling the various desk drawers open in hopes of finding a spare drive.
I was having excellent luck that night as I soon stumbled across one. I plugged the drive into one of the front ports.
"It's in." I signaled to Ivan.
"I see it. Transferring the data over now."
A pop up opened up on the screen of the computer, showing the progress of the transfer. I looked at the amount that Ivan was downloading.
"That's quite a bit." I murmured.
"There's a lot here that I want to look over." Ivan admitted unashamedly.
"You know what they say about being greedy."
"What do they say about being greedy?"
"I don't know." I sighed in defeat, "Just don't be greedy."
"I'm thinking of it more as valuable information for future badassery for you to take down." Ivan said.
"Me?" I raised an eyebrow. "When did I agree to this?"
"When you took me on as your partner. I live vicariously through you, you know."
"Sounds like you need to get out more." I scoffed.
"Now that's the pot calling the kettle black." Ivan laughed on the other end.
The transfer pop up vanished from the screen.
"It's done." I notified him.
"You can take it out now." Ivan confirmed, but quickly added, "Leave the dongle behind. I want to try to access their system again in the future. There's something about it that is strangely similar to something else I've seen."
"Like what?"
"Can't put my finger on it, but I'll let you know when I do."
"Alright." I reached over and plucked the flash drive from the CPU before setting it down on the desk. "I'm going to head on out then. Talk to you when I get back."
"TTYL!" Ivan shouted over the phone before hanging up with a click.
I sighed and dropped the phone back into the woman's pocket where I had found it originally. I had no doubt that Ivan would erase the call logs in the next minute or so from the phone so I wouldn't have to. Setting the borrowed body back against the chair I released my soul from the woman's body, allowing her to slump back in a deep sleep. She wouldn't remember a thing from the entire experience, except maybe the headache that I knew was going to come on soon.
I collected the flash drive and proceeded over to the door. Sticking my head through I looked around for any other passerby's. Determining the coast was clear I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, keeping off to the side. While I most certainly was invisible, the flash drive in my hand, however, was not. If anyone bothered to look hard enough they would see a floating piece of metal traveling through the air. That would raise enough questions to give me more trouble than I wanted to deal with.
Quick and quiet was my mantra tonight.
I made a left turn, and then a right. Following the same route that I had taken to get here. The hallway opened up suddenly off to my right to reveal a break area that I did not notice before. Within it, sprawled across its only couch and sleeping soundly, was the last person I expected to see again - Eraserhead.
He had his goggles firmly over his eyes to shut out the overhead lighting while his chest rose and fell evenly as if he was in a deep sleep. A half empty and long forgotten cold coffee sat on the table before him.
I paused at the scene in front me and the image of the tired man in the yellow sleeping bag sprang back to my mind. I had forgotten about it from before, but seeing the hero had jogged it in my memory. Quickly looking around and seeing no one else, I approached the sleeping man and bent over him to study his face. I wondered what it was about his unremarkable appearance that would conjure such an image in my head.
Bending closer I could see through the slits of his goggles that his eyes were closed and relaxed. He looked peaceful with his lips slightly parted as he breathed in and out. My eyes trailed further downwards, taking note of the hint of stubble across his jaw and upper lip as if he had forgotten or had been too tired to be bothered with shaving it completely off. Everything about him exuded an exhausted laziness from his long unkempt hair to the tattered ends of his black hero costume. In him I sensed a kindred spirit, and I gave a small, knowing smile.
I left the hero to sleep in peace and continued down the hallway to the endless stairs that awaited me there. Little did I know that a pair of eyes followed the floating flash drive as it bounced steadily up and down the hallway before vanishing out of sight.