Chapter 40
Mega-corporations hold massive political and economic sway. Some of these mega-corporations hold more sway than many nations. These groups of millions of employees are packs of cutthroat predators, but nothing like wolf packs. In a world of fish, mega corps are shark tanks of titanic proportions, each predator watching for weakness among their peers to lunge for an exposed throat to claim territory, resources, and/or power. In order for the sharks on top to keep their underlings occupied and their throats free from teeth, they keep competition razor sharp with cliff-steep stakes and the finger pointed at other corporate shark tanks. When you have more than one mega corp office in a settlement, there will always be strife between them, even between partners. Because of this unspoken corporate law, there have been more than a few corporate wars.
Once we had assembled the full picture of the scheme we were crossing blades with, our group had scrambled to pull together a viable plan. We finally agreed on a strapped together a battle-plan from the shards of ideas and metaphorical rubber. I use the rubber metaphor instead of glue, because it was a plug-and-play five-part heist quest.
Gods, that simplification makes it sound like I’m pitching some kind of game. No. This was a life-and-death job set to be completed by professional Adventurers. More than that, this was a brandwork adventure. An illicit operation undertaken by Adventurers knowing they were breaking laws. The kind of work that would earn criminal brands on profile or person.
We had a five-part path to victory. 1: Entry. we needed to get in unnoticed. 2: Party and Pilfer. Some of us needed to observe the party and its guests, and some of us needed to find the Zyzivane labs. 3: Collection. We needed to find our targets and ‘collect’ them, with or against their will. 4: Extract. We needed to get everyone outside of the building. 5: Escape. We needed to get the targets to a safe location without being tailed.
As a squad, we had assembled several options for each part of this plan. The strategy options ranged from cautious to cacophonous. I’ll admit some of our agreed strategies were a bit insane, but each member of the squad promised to follow through with any option needed.
We had even cobbled together resources for each option we agreed upon. Our on-call hacker Skitter had shipped us a care package full of useful goodies. Most of those goodies had less-than-ethical uses or intentions. Uniforms for various companies, security seals for digital profiles and physical persons, code-cracker chips, gate-cracker picks, and much more were all in this package. However, that package came with a hefty price tag and not just in coin.
The day of the rescue/abduction mission was on our doorstep before we knew it. Where I pick the story back up, it was twilight hours, not that you would know by looking at the smog-caked sky. Our squad was packed into a caravan AV. Despite ordering a rental Aerial Vehicle designed to carry copious luggage, we still found ourselves crammed into the back like a vacuum-sealed package of Resonance micro capacitors. The AV was designed to hold a whole family of Demierra-sized people. But that luxury of space was absent with the stacks of food cryo-coolers. Each cooler was loaded with equipment we might need for the brandwork quest.
Despite being packed in shoulder to shoulder, we kept focused.
I held a hologram display aloft in one hand for everyone to inspect the image. The three-dimensional image was of the Evea-Life tower floor layout and systems. “So we’ve got four entry options.” I started. Demierra interjected with an indignant comment of “Five options.”
I shot an annoyed look the Dracose’s way, but I still corrected myself. “Five options. Each with its own hazards and problems. Our options are the front door, the cargo bay, the rooftop, the Undercity, and…” I paused to take an exasperated breath before voicing the final option with an irritated tone. “The wrecking ball method.” With a rolling gesture of my hand, I signaled for Zynna to list off the obstacles she had found.
The Copkin, back in her preferred Half-Elf shape tapped the hologram to zoom in on the main entry lobby. “If we go in through the front door, we’ll need to stay aware of security forces, automated defenses, traps, and scanners. Similar systems also arm the cargo bay. And both locations have breach defenses, meaning blast doors and reinforced structures. The roof isn’t much better. It also has automated defenses, an energy barrier doming it, and breach defenses.”
“The party is also on the roof.” Ferris pointed out.
“Could we use that?” Nennel asked. “It would be simpler if we crack the energy shell, swoop in with our company AV, and snatch our prey like a falcon, before riding off into the sunset.”
“I’d rather not open with that.” I said as I pulled on one horn in thought. “We would still need to get to the labs to scrub their research, and those are on one of the subfloors below the tower. We need to get in with as little commotion as possible.”
“We should probably split up and enter from different positions.” Zynna said as she reached into the bag at her feet to pull free a lab coat. “The elevators that reach the subfloors are apart from the elevators that scale the tower up to the roof. Another reason: We’d look awful suspicious, walking in as a full squad. Especially with how strange our squad is.” Zynna slipped into the lab coat as her face and body began to shift and distort into a new shape. In moments, where a half-Star Elf girl had stood was a taller, male High Elf with short golden hair, long ears, and heavy bags under his eyes. The Copkin reached back into the bag at his feet and produced a pair of half-moon glasses he propped on the end of his nose. “I’ll head in through the front. Hey, Scum Blood,” he directed the slur at Ferris.
“Hey!” Both Ferris and I shot at Zynna in offense.
“Shut it, both of you.” Zynna snapped at us in response, before continuing in a more even tone. “I’m only getting in character, twits. Ferris, I need you to follow me as a lab tech. It’ll look more believable if this sleep-deprived researcher dragged his obviously hated assistant back to the lab with him.” The Copkin turned to Nennel with a hand extended in request. “Can I get the seal imprinter?”
Nel quietly pulled a small metal cylinder from her bag and set it in Zynna’s hand. The false High Elf pressed the imprinter against the back of his hand, triggering a dull blue flash, though nothing visible changed. Without prompting, I pulled up my therra’s user interface and scanned Zynna to pull up his/her official profile.
The profile portrait matched Zynna’s current face, and the name was listed as Tane Palebloom. The profession listed with Mister Palebloom as a Magical Theory Specialist Mystgenist. And sure enough, in the Endow Seal window under the profile image were several ornate and complex symbols with listed access clearance and security levels.
“Looks like you’re good to go.” I informed Zynna with a thumbs up.
Ferris, meanwhile, was grumbling to himself while angrily pulling on his own lab coat. “Ives, you’re positive that I won’t get spotted by the scanners? I shouldn’t have some illusion or hologram face-thing?”
Kharmor was the one to answer. “The scanners only go off when they identify a known criminal, a projected disguise like what Iver made Nel or items that produce a dangerous type or amount of energy. You aren’t entering with anything that would set off alarms on your person. Correct? Nothing using Ruin Myst, Death Myst, or Distortion Myst?”
“No.” the Quint answered. “I’m only bringing in an elemental pistol, the infusion dagger, and anything you guys think I can smuggle in with my pockets. But, you all are certain that I’m not flagged as a criminal?”
“Iver’s the only one flagged as a criminal, at the moment.” Nel answered in an annoyed voice.
I was the one to change topics to get back on course by speaking to Kharmor. “If those two are entering through the front and heading up, think you can go down to the Maintenance and Systems Floor?”
“What are you plotting?” Kharmor asked with teasing accusation.
“I’m thinking of putting you in a power company uniform, arming you with a few… troubles to take to the basement.”
“Yeah. That sounds simple enough. Though I’ll need to wait a bit after Zy and Fer go in. I don’t want any ties between them and me should things light up.”
“If anything, I think you should go in first, and they wait till ten minutes, or so, after.” I corrected. “You’re going to have a few things to get in place, which could take some time. After you set up everything, come find me. I suspect I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Kharmor slid into a Source-Fold Energies uniform and picked up a weighty black duffle bag. I had loaded the bag down with a few gadgets and a few more nasty surprises. As the Half-Dwarf readied his own seals I gave him a warning. “A few items in the bag will set off the scanners. So don’t freak when you get a pat down from the guards. Since I built everything in the bag, none of it looks like standard sabotage gear they will recognize. Since power technicians regularly need to carry tools infused with Distortion or Ruin Myst, just tell them you’re a generator technician and you have a job there. If we’re giving you Source-Fold access seals then that should be enough to point to as the reason you’re carrying ‘certified’ gear.”
“Won’t I need an appointment on the books to get in?” Kharmor asked. “I doubt Source-Fold would perform surprise inspections.”
“Yep.” I said with an innocent smile, although no one in the vehicle trusted me when I wore it. I handed Khar a flat electronic stick. “This is something special I asked our hacker for. Press the blue button to link it with your profile before you pass the doors. Once you’re within thirty feet of the reception desk, press the black button. It will add your profile to the logs with a scheduled appointment ten minutes ahead of the time you press the button. It’s not foolproof, but if you’re smart, it will help you get in and down.”
After Kharmor entered the tower, we waited with bated breath for another ten minutes, until we were sure there wasn’t an eminent battle. Another ten minutes later, Zynna and Ferris entered. After they weren’t attacked, I turned to the remaining squad mates. Nennel, Ozwald, and Demierra had been deliberating over whether to enter from the cargo bay or roof. Demierra wanted to crash in through the roof with fists swinging. I flatly denied the “wrecking ball option”.
Instead, I had Nennel, and Ozwald dress in server uniforms for Platinum Platter Catering. A false company, that would be likely be discovered by evening’s end.
Nel was dressed in a high-cut skirt, leggings, a ruffle-dominant finery shirt, and a dress vest, all patterned in black, navy blue, and silver. Her entire body was covered by fabric, hiding her cybernetics, and what of her face and neck were visible had been covered in prosthetic skin.
Ozwald was dressed in something I would expect to see him in on a temple day. Dress slacks, a fine dress shirt, and a neatly buttoned vest in a matching pallet to Nennel’s guise.
Nennel and Zynna had to Demierra practically forced into a manual labor jumpsuit. The laborer uniform was the safer option, compared to the same high-cut skirt and ruffled shirt of Nennel’s uniform, in a size fitting a mammoth Dezzar Dracose’s frame.
The wait staff sub-squad was going to enter through the cargo bay since it would lead to somewhere at least close to the kitchen serving the roof. But first, we had to slap a company logo on the side of our AV van to complete the guise. They needed the vehicle to sell the story they were pitching. It would’ve been pretty weird if two wait staff and a laborer simply walked up to the back gates and asked to be let in.
The AV van was both our biggest foil and our biggest crutch. The van was our main exit strategy, but there was more to it. The back of the vehicle was armed with every scrap of gear and weapons we could think of, find, and afford. Those tools could be our saving grace, but if they were found, we would be too in short order. The gear was hidden in the food-storage cryo-coolers to trick a cursory glance, but if someone opened a cooler, we were screwed. So Demierra was instructed to stay with the van until someone called for support.
I watched from an old parking lot as the last of my squad started their end of the heist. My position was a block and a half from the tower and the thing dominated the skyline. The mega-scraper building was a monument of abstract glass and steel dedicated to greed and exploitation. It was a tower that vanished into the smog clouds overhead in a curved and pompous stab at the angels above.
I noticed that I couldn’t see the peak of the tower, and it bothered me in a way I couldn’t define. With a force of effort, I tore my eyes from the monument and started down the road another two blocks.
