Chapter #2
The next night I packed a back pack with materials I thought I might need when investigating the unknown area. I brought a scanner with a laser that would help detect where each of the cameras were, some small dome cameras that were linked to a small tablet that I kept within a pouch of the back pack so that I could see if anyone was coming, an old cell phone that I had messed with and could now be used as a crypto phone for eavesdropping and hacking, a pair of night vision goggles, some flash drives that I knew could hold and download tons of information and could do so within seconds, a simple grappling gun (man the internet was great, especially when you knew how and where to order materials in secret where you couldn't be tracked), and I also put a flashlight in the bag because why not?
In the two side pockets of the pack I put in two black metal tonfa that extended and shortened when I pressed a button on the bottom of the handle. In my pocket I also had a small pocket knife, and on my right hand I also had a small ring where a blade could pop out when a small part on the bottom was forcefully pushed in.
I made sure to change my look before I left. I used a black wig to cover my brown hair, and I wore black contacts to hide my light brown colored eyes. I used some make-up to make my skin look like it was a lot tanner than its usual pale white shade. I put on a form fitting long sleeve black shirt, form fitting black sweat pants, and my black running shoes. I wore a black beanie, black gloves, and even a black surgical mask that had a cute toy bear mouth print on it.
Once again Jay was working ridiculously late and said he probably wouldn't be getting back until early Sunday morning, so getting home on time wasn't an issue tonight. This was one of the two reasons I had waited so long before I began my investigation. The other reason being that at night time it would be harder to be seen compared to earlier in the day when some light still made its way down below the surface.
I left around 10p.m. through an exit in the back of the building on the bottom floor. It lead to an alley way where in the center was a manhole cover. I tried to quietly lift it up, and then I tried to quietly bring it back down as I climbed down the ladder leading into the sewer. I pulled out the camera detecting scanner and the old phone to use a GPS system to lead me back to the location I had passed by the previous night. I used my flash light to guide the way for the time being until suddenly, my detector device went off. According to the device, there had been another one of the small cameras nearby. I switched out the flashlight for my night vision goggles and then hid around a corner, aimed the device in the direction of the camera, and fired the laser. After a few seconds, the red light on the device turned green, signaling that the camera had been disabled and that I was free to move on.
I followed this pattern for about half an hour, every once in a while setting up a camera of my own, just to be safe. I had an audio sensor set up on my hand-held device as well, I wanted to be extra cautious since I had no idea what I might find.
Theme:
Bassnectar (Butterfly ft. Mimi Page)
Finally, I saw a dim light shining down from the opposite side of the path from where I was standing. I put my goggles on the top of my head and I slowly walked forward. I heard a faint noise, but I wasn't sure what it was. It sounded like water, but would there be that much running water at this part of the sewer? I pulled my knife out of my pocket as I creeped around the corner. I was confused about what I saw at the opening at the end of the path.
I saw a t.v. and a couch and computers…what? As I continued to walk farther into the room, my jaw dropped. There was a water slide to my right, and next to that was a small eating area. On my left was a small space set up like a living room. It had a couch and some unique chairs, I swear one of them was made out of pizza boxes. There were even some video game systems with boxes of games next to the couch near the wall. As I walked forward I saw that there was some deeper space on the left that led to what seemed to be an arcade, and past that was more open space. I then looked forward to see, god how many monitors were there? There were computer screens with scanners and trackers and who knew what else displayed across them.
I kept walking around the gigantic room and looked at every site it had to offer. It was filled with all types of random objects from the city surface. Were these people secret agents, or were they just very creative artists? I was sent multiple different signals after getting a good look at this place. As my eyes wandered upwards and saw how high the ceiling was, I accidentally bumped into a skate board. Correction, a chair made out of nine skateboards. I was leaning more towards the idea that artists dominated this space. I then walked over towards the right side of the room. There was a small bridge connecting the main walkway to the eating area since the water from the waterslide ran underneath. On the wall in front of me were four gigantic circular openings, two on top and two below. They lead to some open space behind them, but I didn't want to venture to far from the entrance I had used. I noticed that the top left opening had some hammocks and bean bag chairs, the bottom left had some work out equipment, the bottom right seemed to be used for weapon storage, and the top right had…a DJ turntable with some other guitars and a drum set, definitely some random themes there. Following along the wall was a small kitchen area. I looked in the fridge, and there was nothing but frozen pizza and a variety of drinks. That was interesting. What was more interesting was the huge van on my left. I walked over to the stairs and looked down at the truck. It looked like the inside had tons of tech gear as well. Now I was thinking that maybe it wasn't artists living down here.
I then paused for a moment, I had to have been dreaming, right? Maybe someone had actually attacked and drugged me and this was all in my head.
Just as I thought that, I felt a presence nearby. I pulled my knife back out in self-defense…but nothing happened and no one appeared…so I slowly put the weapon back into my pocket. I checked my phone and saw that it was about 11:00p.m. I should probably start heading back soon. Who knew how long it would be until whoever lived here came back. I went back over to where the computers were, now realizing that there was a small opening between the two collages of monitors. I walked past them and was shocked to see that inside the opening was a lab. Well, okay I wasn't so shocked anymore, at this point I was more intrigued at what I would discover next. I saw a flash drive laying on a counter in the room. Without even considering the consequences, I took the flash drive and quickly put it in a zippered pouch inside my bag. With that, I put my goggles back on, got my GPS system ready and back tracked all the way through the sewer. I collected my dome cams on my way and finally by about 11:45p.m. made it back to the alley way outside my apartment building.
As soon as I got home I started setting up some cameras and other equipment within my room in case someone tried to come after me and attack. I also started setting up some programs on any and all devices I had in case someone tried to hack in and steal anything. Whatever I had just discovered, I wanted to learn more about it, no matter the cost. I mean if matters got too bad then I would back away, especially if Jay somehow got involved. But if it was just about me, then I didn't care. Jay was all I had left in this world and as long as he was safe then I was fine. He had a girlfriend now so she could comfort him if something that bad were to happen to me. Wow, that was pretty dark even for me, but hey blame life for that. It's the curve balls that the world threw at me in the past that explain how I could even think something like that.
But in all seriousness, I was extremely curious about what I had just found. I wanted to investigate further into what I had just seen, and nothing was going to stop me.