"Invisibility at the least, though I would count on Pallor also being trained in other skills. I have some tactical reflective chaff that can be used to circumvent that if needed," Shin says.
“Not that I’m counting on this kind of luck, but there’s a possibility—albeit a slim one—I can see him. I see ultraviolet normally, and my Heliokinesis should be helpful as long as he gives off body heat.
“Glitter confetti would work too. That stuff never comes off unless you either become subatomic or turn your entire body to fire and vaporize the glitter so it won’t stick to you again when you grow back.”
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Indarius craned his neck downward as the plan began to come into place. "Remember our primary is to get the data right? So we need to have more in the way of diversion and stall tactics than straight up take-down for this shadow-team right? In the case that we need like.. me and Caio to stay back and hold off the team you all could get to the servers without us yeah?"
"Stalling and annoying people is pretty much my jam, but I don't mind making friends with the servers."
"I'm bringing a multiport data-stick for siphoning relevant data from her servers, as well as a few backups. It'll take time to sift through afterwards but that's the quick method for getting Lovelace's data. If we have time, breaking encryption to grab the necessary files would be useful. But I'd rather just fill up a bag than pick out all the choice pieces if that's the difference between success and getting pinned down."
He turns to his comm, keyed to Whippoorwill. "Sensei, anything you think I've missed from the plan?"
"Lovelace isn't stupid, and information is her stock in trade," Whippoorwill warns. "She's not going to keep her most valuable assets in an obvious location or anywhere vulnerable. Be mindful of decoy servers or dummy drives."
Her voice comes out strained next. "If you're set on doing this, I'm not going to stop you. I won't begrudge you your closure. But, these are huge risks you're taking. Valerie, most of all. Just... remember walking away is still an option."
"Thank you, sensei. For everything," Horizon tells her. He turns to the team.
"Dummy drives and decoy servers, let's keep that in mind when we go in tonight. And thank you. All of you, for doing this with me."
He taps a finger against his thigh. "I'll see you all tonight. Let me know if anything comes up."
While Kirby Tower is the tallest building in Halcyon City, Lovelace International Plaza is a strong rival for number two. Bathed in colorful lights, it stands a behemoth above the other skyscrapers that surround it.
At the appointed time, the heroes of First Class approach. The 28th floor is clearly identified as a straight line of darkened windows in the lower third of the building.
Femtite soars to the 28th floor… and she’s in!
Caio has been watching the Lovelace building for a couple days and he noticed a reasonable influx from food delivery and to his surprise some were from small places where uniforms weren't enforced. It wasn't that difficult for him to slip in while carrying some bags of tacos.
With the speed born of a truly ill-considered entrance, Connie arcs up and into... well maybe not the 28th floor, but something!
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Indarius swoops into the under-construction area disguised as an overly large scaled raven, once he knows the coast is clear, not like he wouldn't draw eyes regardless he let's go of the false form and regroups with the team.
"Alright everyone in? Wait.. where's Conflux? Damnit knew I should have carried her up."
Shin was kitted out in perhaps too much gear as he slowly flies towards the 28th floor. A strap snags on some left out construction equipment, threatening to knock over a few things as he attempts to right himself.
Thankfully, his conversation with his mentor reminds him to keep cool under pressure and slowly extract himself. Avoiding sensors was a breeze when you absorbed any beams or rays they emitted.
Femtite, Horizon, and Indarius cross the void between buildings and aim for the 28th floor. The Transformed maneuvers his draconic form with ease, slipping inside silently. Femtite and Horizon are less smooth but make it inside where interior construction restricts the ability for cameras and other security measures to be effectively employed.
Conflux misjudges her speed upon arrival, so focused is she on avoiding the exterior spotlights, and ends up coming in too fast! She can't bring herself to an effective stop before she hits a pallet stacked with sheets of drywall! While it absorbs the impact of her crash, a number of spare metal ducts leaning up against it fall noisily to the ground!
The team sees blinking lights on surveillance cameras come to life as they crane back and forth, looking for intruders. They all duck and maneuver to stay out of the cameras' range of vision as they make their way to the banks of elevators!
Meanwhile, Caio ties a different tactic by impersonating an Infini-dash deliverer, bringing a bagful of tacos -- and himself -- through security. He is waved through and directed to the interior bank of elevators. A pair of extremely large and obviously strong men stuffed in expensive suits stand guard. Their eyes follow Caio suspiciously as he enters the first elevator door that opens. Unfortunately, the buttons on the elevator only go up! As the doors close, he takes note of the camera lens trained on him.
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Being a dragon has perks, like being large, in charge, and notably an oddity that most people don't get to see often. This produces a phenomena where cameras both personal and security seem to be attracted to like a moth to a flame. Indy's wings don't help either so perhaps he should have stayed in his smaller form.
"F, help me cover I," Horizon whispers as he tries to help keep the dragon concealed from the sensors.
Femtite is so startled her glow almost shines right into a camera! Fortunately, she covers up in divine armor rather than shrinking away.
At Shin’s command, she uses her Heliokinesis to bend light—just enough to give Indy cover!
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Woosh. Ding! Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking and
When she passes, each one she passes goes: Aah
When she walks, she's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle that
When she passes, each one she passes goes: Ooh
Ooh, but I watch her so sadly
How can I tell her I love her?
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at me... Woosh. Ding!
[smaller]"Don't sweat it big guy." Connie folds up a magazine cover into a paper airplane, sigils already scrawled on the underside, and throws it off to the side. "Everyone knows the cameras love my boy Tiv." And sure enough, the cameras unfocus and follow.
Though it was close, First Class evaded the security cameras and reach the large service elevator that has clearly seen use hauling up the various construction supplies for the renovations for this floor. Currently in the cameras' blind spots, the team can consider their next move. The elevator itself is available and working, but using it to access the subbasement would require security clearance that would have to be bypassed. The elevator shaft itself could be a means of reaching the basement, as well as the large ducts that make up the HVAC system of the towering structure.
What do you do??
Meanwhile, Caio enjoys the soft music of the elevator as it takes him several floors up. He steps out into a lobby, seeing a receptionist and beyond numerous offices that are currently in use, evidently Lovelace International employees who are monitoring the Asian stock markets.
He drops off the tacos with the woman behind the desk, completing his "official" job.
What do you do?
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"Thanks guys." Indy says with a sigh of relief eyeing the elevator.
"So I'm thinking. If we send the elevator above us we can pry open the door and I can feather us down... we can even grab R on the way as he accidentally rides it up. If you tell em to pay attention to his phone or something and just so happen to step on the up elevator I mean."
Indy passes the idea around before acting on anything.
The tacos delivered, Caio was a bit lost. There were way too many security cameras and he wasn't really a social butterfly. He then notices a tattoo somewhat hidden on the receptionist's sleeve.
Damn... he did not like at all to play this game, but there appears to be no other choice. He unbuttons the topmost button of his shirt and rolls his sleeves, showing his own tattoos and then smiles at the woman. She was older than him, but not much, and her name tag had a red label of "training".
"Worst part is having so much work on them and then having to hide... Is it too much to ask these old fashioned suits would allow us to show some skin and art?"
Femtite had been contemplating the elevator shaft even before she had entered the building. But given that the real entry was not nearly as easy as the simulation, she does as Percy does: runs an idea by her teammates before running with it.
“I can fly down the shaft and slip through doors without opening them. If you would like, I can move through the underground at fly-size or flea-size, taking my perch in the corner where wall meets ceiling, letting Bug-Eye’s zoom lens be our eye.”
Horizon taps out the message to Rain using the code through their burners.
Ichi: What level do we need to be to play your game?
"Let's be careful and take the elevator shafts down. They're double wide, so there's room to slip between two cars for us. Three fliers, so I and myself can take C and R respectively. F, check the sensors in the elevator and disable them if you can. C, I, let's prepare for our descent."
Horizon gives the orders and the team begin to descend using the elevator shaft. The fast-moving elevator cars and their counter-weights prove to be a tricky proposition, requiring each teammate to look out for the other and follow their orders.
===============
Meanwhile the receptionist gives Caio an appreciative look when he gives her a better look at his tattoos. "Wow. They look spiritual," she ventures. "You're so right. I spend all this money and I can't show it off?"
She rolls up her own sleeve to show the colorful flowers winding around her forearm. "Of course, there's others that only my boyfriend is allowed to see." She smiles at him and watches his reaction to the boyfriend statement.
"Yours are good. Super precise, clean lines. You ever watch that show, Legends of Ink?"
Oh, this was much more stressful than he had anticipated. Horizon was worrying now as they descended deeper. Worried that this was going to get his team captured or worse. Worried that Valerie would end up getting hurt. Worried about what he would do once he found the Instigators.
He cut it close running past the counterweight for the elevator, checking on the team's progress and getting ready to intervene if he needed to protect one of them.
Femtite slips inside—but she’s so nervous about botching things she almost does exactly that!
Stop worrying about their judgement!
Femtite zips down to the first elevator. She shrinks herself to get inside its control panel—and from within—she sends the elevator to an upper floor. She then choose a lower floor. This will keep the elevator from moving too much, but without doing obvious tampering such as activating every button or setting fire to the controls.
She does shut down the cameras on the 13th floor so she can push an ash bin into the doorway so it remains open as if someone was holding the door, then forgot and left the bin there.
Once Rain replies to Shin, Femtite shuts cameras down on his floor. With help of Bug-Eye’s AI, she has those cameras display the video of cameras in the same position on a floor 10 stories away. The hallways are identical enough that security should believe all cameras are active.
She awaits the team in the basement!
"Thanks, these I actually did on my own." He comes closer to her, actually surprised. He never considered himself an 'artist'. "See? This is why the ones on the right arm are different. Not familiar with the show though..."
"Yours are very nice too. Very colorful and I really dig them... I'm even considering altering some of mine to have more color, but I'm afraid to overdo it, you know?"
Was she provoking him? With a smirk, he crosses his arms, rests them on the counter and then rests his chin on top of them. "Do you think he pays attention to the tattoos? Not sure I would."
"I don't have secret ones like you... mine are just these circles, some more elaborated than the others, but there is a pattern, or a puzzle." He stops for a moment, before adding. "Not sure my girlfriend has figured it out so far."
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Indy offered a hand to Conflux after prying open the elevator doors. Taking a jump down he unfurled his wings with a leathery fwip. Quickly coasting into the other side he kicked off the wall timing well placed flap-turns. Giving himself the entire double-wide to work with again while continuing his descent at a favorable pace.
When an elevator started to approach going up, he stopped his fall with a controlled hover and moved over to the opposite shaft to let it pass harmlessly. When one was headed down he alighted atop it until it stopped. Before continuing his previous slowed fall. It wasn't silent, but the moving elevator bits covered it mostly.
During one of the change overs Indy notices Horizon getting very close to the counterweight and drops suddenly only to grab his fearless leader with both taloned feet, slow their descent, and pull him away from it. "Easy, no need to rush this."
Absolutely f*&$ing ridiculous that I still have to like, tug at someone's cape like a kid to get a ride. They could just offer!
First Class manages to descend the treacherous elevator shafts, flying, falling, or some combination thereof, until they find themselves far below street level. Shrinking down to slip through the gap in the elevator doors, Femtite peeks through and sees a long hallway stretching in both directions. On the far side the hallway is a glass wall, showing banks of computer servers.
A security complement of cameras, motion sensors, and laser grids fill the hall.
What do you do??
"You did these yourself?!? You're really good," the receptionist compliments. "The shows just where tattoo artists compete."
She smiles as he appreciates her tattoos, turning her arm over so he can get a good look. She gives Caio a look when he mentions his girlfriend. "Maybe your girlfriend doesn't appreciate good tattoos. And I like a challenge. Maybe I can figure out the puzzle. How many more do I have to look at before I can solve it?" She studies his reaction.
Femtite returns looking visibly nervous. She tells them what’s beyond the doors.
“Is that room beyond the glass our destination, H?” In her head, the team is FIRCH Class, so she doesn’t forget to address her ’mates on a first-letter-basis. “C, did you bring a glow-stick?” She asks because “I doubt I can tamper with the cameras without tripping an alarm.”
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"I could cast an invisibility spell on us. Wouldn't do anything for our temperature if the cameras have some kind of heat sensor. But it should allow us to bypass the lasers since it'd bend around us. Sadly I also don't have anything for the motion detectors... um.. unless."
Indy looks like he'd be chewing his lip if he had any.
"F, what's under us? Solid ground?"
Femtite replies, “I’ll check.”
She becomes a spark, whose firefly-glow fades to nothing the moment she touches the floor.
"That is part of the puzzle." Caio replies before adding. "And since you like a challenge, well, every time you get the puzzle wrong I think it is only fair for you to show me one of your hidden ones."
Trying to look serious, he adds. "Just for me to appreciate the art, of course. Since we are both... compromised. Right?" Ugh, he felt... horrible? Mostly for sure, for he'd not cheat on Skyler in any way, but he couldn't lie that the whole thing was exciting.
Femtite shrinks down to pass through the reinforced concrete of the floor. It's thick; going down what she estimates to be a meter or more, but it opens up into a space rather than shift to bedrock which would have indicated the team had reached the lowest level. Instead, she finds something else.
Growing to a conservative size but big enough to view the area, Femtite sees that she is in a large gymnasium-style room. On the floor below her are several people she recognizes. Valerie is there in her usual black catsuit, along with Valence and Scythe wearing another headset that seems to be keeping her under control. Femtite doesn't recognize two others, a girl and a guy, as well as an adult woman who is overseeing their exercises and drills.
What do you do??
The receptionist grins. "Okay sounds like fun. What do I win if I get it right?" she asks with a daring expression. "Maybe something we'll both have to keep from our SOs? Or at least a free tattoo."
She lets Caio stew on that while she takes a fresh look at his tattoos that she can see. "Umm, are they to focus your inner strength?" At the wrong answer, she gets up and turns around, pulling up her blouse so he can see the angel wings tattooed on her back.
At that moment, while her back is turned, Caio palms her access card!
She turns back around, pleased with the game so far. "Now you gotta show me another."
What do you do??
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Femtite records a ten-second clip via Bug-Eye. She sinks back into the ceiling and rises from the floor.
“Good call, P… I mean, I.” She has Bug-Eye project the top-down view image of Val, Scythe, Valence, Girl, Boy and Woman, so everyone can see exactly what she just saw.
“What’s the play, H?”
It’s not that Femtite can’t think of a play or two herself. But this is Shin’s show, and even a Star knows when to play the Supporting Cast.
"Full on razzle dazzle is possible, but I don't hate the idea of preserving resources if you've got a functional plan."
"I'll let you choose your prize." Caio says, shrugging and smirking. If there was a time to be cocky... "Don't think you will though." Just another push.
Got it. Wow, that was close.
"Angel wings? Uhn. Sorry, but you don't strike me as an angel." Just then his phone rings and he gets Horizon's message. "Damn!" He looks back at the girl. "Another delivery... I guess we'll have to rain check our little mystery." He taps the food bag. "Just make an order when you are feeling hungry. Or thirsty. Our margaritas are a killer."
Back on the elevator, Caio makes sure his face is hidden with his cap, sending the elevator down and then swiping the access card.
R: On my way.
"...R is on the way." Horizon confirms to the team, checking the footage that Femtite had snagged. He wonders who the woman is, hoping that it isn't someone significantly more threatening. "We need to do a pronged attack. The servers up here are too good to be true if there's a further chamber below us. More likely we'll need to descend deeper if we want to snag the real ones. Doing that would nominally mean getting past Lovelace's new team. However," Horizon taps Scythe, "It would be simple to disable her headset and let her create the distraction we need."
"I need volunteers for data extraction and for personnel extraction-slash-distraction. It would be strange for me not to be front and center. So who wants the siphon drive?" He asks, holding up the dongle.
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Indy looked at Connie, then up the elevator shaft to make sure nothing was going to come down on them, though they should be more or less good here.
"You should go with Femtite and get the data. I'll stick with Horizon and we'll distract the others. Seems a little counter intuitive to alarm em now, but who knows he might be onto something."
"A reasonable division of labors. If you want her calm though, R. should definitely be there though."
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The receptionist wiggles her fingers in a wave as she gives him a playful pout in response to Caio cutting their flirtation short. "I'll keep that in mind the next time I get thirsty," she says with a sultry smile. Her expression shifts into one of puzzlement just as the elevator
arrives. "What taco place are you from, anyway? Funny how no one has come out to claim your delivery."
As the elevator doors begin to close, the receptionist calls out, "by the way, you should clear out quick anyway. We're supposed to have a superhero attack tonight."
The doors shut before Caio can respond.
What do you do?
With the directions and a clear idea of the atomic structure of the material he'd have to circumvent provided by Femtite, Indarius easily transports himself and Horizon into the room below.
* * *
Femtite is able to navigate the lasers easily, given her ability to size-shift and effortlessly defy gravity. It’s also helpful that pixite eyes can handle extremely bright lights, so Femtite isn’t blinded by the trap.
Once in, she gives Connie an encouraging look. You’ve got this…
"If R doesn't show up in one minute, go and find him. I'll hold down the fort," Horizon tells Indarius as they leap down into the breach.
Of course, he's expecting a trap of some kind. Having everyone rush headlong into it would be suicidal. But it had to be sprung, and as they materialize below, he's already trying to figure out what Femtite's video didn't show them.
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Why do they have a trap from Muppets Most Wanted?
Connie briefly considers trying to just limber her way through, but decides not to rest on her cheer ego, and instead produces a matched pair of mirrors to help her safely cut beams she wasn't certain of, bouncing the light back to keep the circuits live with her trademark precision.
If anyone asked about the whole exchange and Caio was forced to tell the truth, he'd have to say he quite enjoyed it. Luckily no one saw it. Better this way. Swiping the card, Caio gets down to the parking garage and swiftly enters a bathroom where he tosses his delivery guy clothes in a bin to reveal he is wearing business clothes, even without a suit.
Back on the garage, Caio quickly looks around for the next step.