by Lucas Flint
I have to admit, though, that the sensation of turning invisible was weird. Rubberman had explained that the watch would refract light rays to make me invisible, but I didn’t really understand the science behind that or how it worked. All I knew was that it was weird to look down at my hands and not see them, even though I could feel them and move them as normally as ever. It made me glad that the watch worked for only five seconds at a time. If it worked for any longer than that, I’d probably start to feel nervous.
Anyway, I wished I’d brought the building’s blueprints with me, because I was getting lost and I didn’t know how much more time I had before Sasha got suspicious. There were more than a few closed doors I passed because I didn’t know what was on the other side. Perhaps one of them was the Data Room, but it was equally likely that they were the office of someone else and I didn’t want to open the door only to find someone in there, someone who would call the security guards on me. Yet at the same time, I knew that if I didn’t find the Data Room quickly, the mission would fail.
Just as I turned a corner, I saw it. Near the center of the hallway was a simple white office door with the words ‘DATA ROOM’ written on it. There was no one else in the hallway except for me. In fact, there didn’t even seem to be any offices in this part of the floor. That meant that I could just walk up, open the door, and go inside without having to worry about being seen.
And I almost did, at least before I spotted yet another security camera hanging from the ceiling. It was not focused on me. Instead, it was focused on the door to the Data Room. I breathed a sigh of relief. If I had taken even just a few more steps toward the door, I would have walked into the camera’s field of vision, which would have allowed the security guard watching the feed to see me.
While that may have kept me from being spotted, the problem was that it also kept me from reaching the Data Room itself. That I found the Data Room didn’t matter if I couldn’t enter it. The door didn’t even appear to be locked, probably because that security camera kept guard over it.
My first idea was to turn on my invisibility watch and enter the Data Room. The security camera would not pick me up if I was invisible.
But I abandoned that idea as soon as I realized that the door to the Data Room opening by itself would be every bit as alarming to whoever was on the other side of the security camera as seeing me do it. Invisibility was useful, but it wasn’t a magic bullet.
I could destroy the camera with my eye lasers or even simply disable it with a smart use of my eye beams. But again, that would only make the security guards take notice. After all, if I were a security guard, I’d definitely be concerned, if not outright alarmed, if one of the camera feeds went out abruptly. Plus, it would probably leave evidence that the security guards could use to track it back to me, which would cause us a whole lot of problems that I didn’t want to deal with.
This seemed like an insurmountable problem to me. Every possible solution I could think of only seemed to make the problem worse. And what was worse was that I couldn’t waste time standing here. The longer I stood here thinking of a way to break into the Data Room without being seen, the more likely it became that I would be found or that Sasha would realize what we were doing and stop us. I needed a solution and I needed a solution now.
All of a sudden, I heard whistling coming from the other end of the hall. I retreated to the previous hall, but peered around the corner to see who was coming.
At the other end of the hall, an office worker was walking down the hall, a laptop bag hanging off his shoulder. He wore a blue button up shirt, a black tie, and had thick glasses perched on his large nose. He was probably in his mid twenties or so and he was whistling a tune that I didn’t know but which was actually kind of catchy. He was looking at his phone, scrolling across the screen, though I didn’t know what he was reading.
I put my hand on my invisibility watch, ready to turn invisible if he kept coming, but the man stopped in front of the room to the Data Room. He fumbled in his pockets before fishing out a key card, which he slid through the door to the Data Room. A small beep indicated that the door was unlocked and he put a hand down on the knob to turn it and enter.
The man still hadn’t noticed me, but I realized that this was my best—and only—chance to get in. Activating my invisibility watch, I dashed across the hall as fast as I could. The office worker pushed open the door and entered. He was already in the process of closing the door by the time I got there. In desperation, I held out a hand and caught the door, causing the worker to stop and look at the door in confusion.
“Huh?” said the man. He looked at the floor, like he was trying to see if he could spot whatever was holding the door open.
I didn’t hesitate. I entered the room, just barely avoiding brushing against him, and quickly stepped off to the side. I found a table here, which I quickly hid behind, crouching low to the floor. I kept my invisibility watch on, but I knew the effect would wear off very soon. I just hoped that the worker wouldn’t notice me.
From under the table—which was partially covered by a white tablecloth—I saw the worker peer out the Data Room before pulling his head back in and closing the door behind him. He looked at the door for a moment, as if still wondering what just happened, but then he shook his head and shrugged. He turned and walked away, going back to whistling his little tune like nothing strange had happened.
I breathed a silent sigh of relief. There was no reason I should have been able to enter this place without being seen, but somehow I made it work. It was sheer dumb luck, but on the other hand, it was sheer dumb luck in my favor and I knew better than to question favorable luck, dumb or otherwise.
Then the invisibility effect wore off and I could now see my hands again. But I didn’t dare make any noise. Instead, I slowly peered over the top of the table I hid behind in order to get a good look at my new environment.
The Data Room was massive, much bigger than it had looked on the blueprints. Huge servers stood in rows of ten on each side of the room, standing silently like guards protecting a castle. Computer monitors stood between each server, along with a keyboard and office chair. The monitors were probably connected to the servers, though I couldn’t imagine what kind of work was done here.
Aside from me and the office worker, the Data Room appeared entirely devoid of people. Nor were there any other entrances into or out of this place. That would make it harder to leave, because I would need to go through the door again, which was still under surveillance by the security camera in the hall.
But I would worry about that later. Right now, I needed to focus on finding the proof of Sasha’s crime. But I couldn’t do that just yet, because the office worker was still in here.
He was sitting in front of one of the computer stations, typing and clicking away, seemingly unaware that he was not alone in this room, as he no doubt thought he was. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but it was probably just related to his normal work day. Yet I couldn’t just sit here forever. I had no idea how long this guy was going to be here. For all I knew, he had just started his shift and wouldn’t leave for eight hours, not counting his lunch break, of course.
No way was I going to wait eight hours to get what I was looking for. If I had to knock him out to accomplish that, so be it.
Right before I did anything, the worker’s phone suddenly started ringing. The worker held his phone up to his ear and said, “Hi, boss, what’s up? I’m just in the Data Room. Is it something important?”
I couldn’t hear what was said over the phone, nor could I see the worker’s expression since his back was to me.
But I did see his response to whatever was said on the phone, because he said, “Okay, okay, I’ll be there,” and stood up and walked quickly back to the door, his laptop bag flying behind him. I ducked back behind the table, but apparently I didn’t need to, because the worker just passed by without even glancing at it. In another instant, he was gone, leaving me all alone in the Data Room.<
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I could hardly believe my luck, but I didn’t let myself dwell on it too long, because I didn’t know when he would be back. Rising from behind the table, I walked over to the servers, looking around uncertainly, because I had no idea where to begin or where I should look first. The evidence I sought was probably somewhere on one of these servers, but there were so many that I could have spent hours in here just looking through them for what I needed.
I decided to try the worker’s computer, because there was a chance, however remote, that he might be connected to the conspiracy. I sat down in the chair and looked at the computer screen. It ran the same operating system as my computer back home, although it had no Internet connection, which was probably wise, because that made it harder for hackers to break into the computer. It didn’t take me long to figure it out and soon I was clicking through folder after folder.
But I didn’t find anything particularly incriminating. All I found was files on income, contracts for licensing deals and sales, tax information prepared by the company’s accountant, and so on. If I cared, I probably could have found some tax shenanigans, but I didn’t really care about that. This computer seemed like a dead end to me, which meant I would need to search one of the other computers for evidence.
Before I stood up, however, I heard a small voice from the monitor say You got mail at the same time as a notification on screen appeared at the same time. Curious, I clicked the notification, which brought up the computer’s email client. A long list of emails was now displayed on the screen before me, and if the storage numbers meant anything, there were thousands more, tens of thousands perhaps, going back who-knows-how long and detailing things that may or may not have been legal.
Once again, I couldn’t believe my luck. Why didn’t I think to check the email client in the first place? If Sasha had hired the Three Fingers, then that meant there was probably an entire email chain made up of emails between her and them on this computer. If I could find the emails, I could download them onto the USB flash drive that Rubberman had given me. The only problem was the sheer amount of emails, but I could just download them all and look through later back at the Elastic Cave.
Before I did that, however, I noticed the email which had triggered the notification in the first place. The subject line was ‘RE: Re-debut plans’ and it was from Barriers. Curious, I double clicked on the email to read it:
JERRY,
I finished setting up the arrangements we discussed in the last email. The only problem is Beams, you know, Dennis’ sidekick. Haven’t heard from him since giving him my card, which is starting to make me think that he’s not interested or Dennis has forbid him from contacting me. Either way, I’ll have to come up with a different plan to get him on my side.
And tell Sasha I’m working on the project, okay? Just because it’s not coming along as quickly as she wants doesn’t mean it’s not coming along at all. Ask her to stop sending me emails about it all the damn time. It’s annoying.
I frowned. I knew Barriers wanted me as his sidekick, but it had never occurred to me that he had been talking about this subject with someone named ‘Jerry,’ whoever that was. Did Barriers really want me to be his sidekick or had he merely approached me because someone—perhaps Sasha—had told him to?
I began to scroll down in order to read the previous emails, which might answer my questions, when a hand fell on my shoulder and I was pulled back.
I crashed onto the floor flat on my back, stunned by the fall. A foot came out of nowhere and struck the side of my helmet, which made my senses go crazy for a moment. Before I could recover, however, another foot came down on my chest, causing me to gasp for breath as the foot pinned me to the floor.
The sound of metal being unsheathed from a leather pouch made me look up to see who had attacked me. My face paled when I saw who it was:
It was the ninja, the very same ninja who had attempted to assassinate me back in the Elastic Cave on my first day of work. And he was raising his knife above his head with clear intent to kill.
CHAPTER NINE
My combat instincts kicked in and I immediately fired two lasers at the ninja. But the ninja jumped to the side at the last second, causing my lasers to strike the ceiling harmlessly.
Nonetheless, I scrambled to my feet and raised my fist. The ninja stood several feet away from me, tossing his knife from hand to hand, his sky blue eyes glaring out at me from between the folds of his mask. He looked exactly the same as he had the last time I saw him; garbed in black, his body muscular and lithe, a dangerous combination, especially for a ninja as ruthless as him. I had no idea where he had come from, but if he was here, then it was obvious that he was working for Munroe Acquisitions.
Keeping a careful eye on the ninja’s movements, I said, “Long time, no see. You look as ready to commit murder as ever, I see.”
The ninja did not respond. He merely tossed his blade from hand to hand, glaring at me the whole while.
“What, nothing to say to me?” I said. “Or are you just mute?”
Again, no response, but the ninja’s eyes did glance at the computer that I’d been sitting at just moments before.
“I see,” I said. “You don’t want me reading those emails. Afraid I might find something that might incriminate your boss?”
The ninja glared at me, which was how I knew I’d gotten under his skin.
“Hey, I understand,” I said. “I have to admit, though, that it’s pretty hypocritical of you to be angry at me for hacking your computers. Given how you stole files from us once, I can’t say I find your stance on the subject very consistent.”
Again, still no response. It must have been a psychological tactic of some kind, maybe some sort of ninja technique meant to lower my guard. Or maybe he just wasn’t very talkative. Regardless, I needed to take him out fast, because if he knew I was here, he might call the security guards on me, which would not only ruin this mission, but possibly my sidekick career as well.
But the ninja was fast, too fast for my eye beams. Not to mention that a fight between us would probably make a lot of noise. Now that I thought about it, why hadn’t the ninja already called for help? If he worked here, then he probably could contact the building’s security or even the police. Maybe he really did want to kill me after all, which didn’t make me feel much better about this situation.
I couldn’t run, though. That would mean going through the door and out into the hall, where I would be instantly spotted by the security cameras. No matter how you cut it, I’d have to take this guy out, unless a miracle happened, but I didn’t believe in miracles, so I was all on my own at the moment.
All of a sudden, the ninja dashed forward, his knife flashing before him. Taken by surprise by his abrupt movement, I fired my lasers at him, but he leaped over them and kicked me in the head with another powerful blow.
I was lucky my helmet was so thick, because I was pretty sure that that kick would have shattered my jaw or at least broken my nose if it had hit my head. As it was, I just staggered to the side, my senses disoriented again, but they recovered in time for me to see a knife coming at my face.
I caught the ninja’s arm before it could stab into my chest and held back his arm as hard as I could. It was surprisingly difficult. The ninja was strong, much stronger than me, and I could tell just by how his arm felt that he definitely lifted. He drove me to the floor based on pure physical strength alone, the pressure from his arms never letting up. There was no emotion behind his eyes except a cold fury that would kill me if I didn’t end this fight fast.
With a grunt, I fired two lasers at the ninja’s hand. The ninja tried to jerk away, but I held onto him too tightly. Somehow, though, my aim must have been off, because I missed the knife, although my lasers did strike his mask, causing him to cry out in pain for the first time since the fight started. His concentration must have been shattered, because the intense pressure from his arm suddenly lessened. I shoved him backwards, sending the ninja staggering bac
kwards, and lashed out with a kick, striking him in the abdomen just like how Rubberman had shown me.
But the ninja still jumped away from me, well outside of my reach. He landed in front of the computer on the other side of the aisle, but he now clutched his abdomen where I kicked him. Additionally, his mask just barely hung onto his head, exposing his cheekbones, cheekbones which looked oddly familiar, especially when combined with his sky blue eyes.
Wait … sky blue eyes … I had seen someone with that eye color recently …
I pointed at the ninja and said, “You’re not some random ninja security guard. You’re Takeshi, Sasha Munroe’s personal assistant, aren’t you?”
The ninja did not respond. He just grunted and ripped what remained of his mask from his head, which he tossed to the side as carelessly as a used napkin. I now found myself staring at the face of Takeshi Yamamoto, though it was slightly sweaty from the exertion of our fight. A burn mark from my lasers stood out over his right eye, bleeding slightly, though he didn’t seem to notice it.
“I knew it,” I said. “And you’re also the same guy who attacked me in the Elastic Cave. You remember that, don’t you?”
Takeshi nodded, his scowl never leaving his face. “That I do. I thought you were still as weak as you were back then, but it is obvious that you have received much training since our last fight. It is my fault for not anticipating your improvement.”
“You got that right,” I said. I flexed my muscles. “I’ve got muscle now and much better control over my eye beams to boot.”
Takeshi sneered. “Power is useless if you do not know how to properly use it. And arrogance is certainly unbecoming of a youth like you, who has never been in a true fight before.”
“Hey, I’ve fought supervillains before and won,” I said. “Maybe I’m not as experienced as you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never been in a true fight.”
