"Yeah," I say and spin the tablet around and minimize the map app to bring up the video app. I start the paused video that comes up on the screen, "Look, they went into the back door of this building and, look there, on the door. Below where it says 'Deliveries,' can you see what it says?"
"Henderson Robotics. You're kidding?" She looks at me, mouth open.
"Nope. It's another one of their production facilities. They have now taken over the company they broke into, twice. Either that, or they were breaking into their own company. In either case, we have our target."
"We'll have to wait until this weekend."
"We can leave after your morning class on Friday."
I spend the rest of the week maintaining my equipment and make time to finish installing the HUD to the face shield for my suit.
Chapter 45
We're on the road for Chicago by 11:30 AM Friday morning and make good time. The place we decide to stay is a campground with rental cabins. It is the offseason and only a few of the cabins are being used. Our cabin is well off the main road down a dirt road marked with a huge sign carved in the side of a giant tree that looks like it had fallen over in that very spot some hundred years before. The Tree Fall Cabins gives us the privacy and out of the way location we may need at the end of the mission.
Carly takes a walk around the cabins and scans all the other guests. There are only eight of them, and she makes everyone think we're the most boring and irrelevant people ever and nothing we do would be interesting in the slightest. I can't say I'm happy about her using her powers on them, but this is a mission and the mission comes first. Practical, that’s what I am.
There's a single porch light outside of the cabin that doesn't have a switch, so just before we leave, I unscrew the bulb so when we come back no one will see us reenter the cabin in our super suits. My suit is a little bulky to fit in the driver's seat, so Carly does the driving and we turn out on the two lane road toward the Henderson Robotics production facility.
It's only 4:30 PM when we get the car parked in a little glade in the woods that will give the car good cover. I put on my helmet and grab my shield and hammer to attach them to the harness on my back as we make our way to a place we can observe at the rear of the facility, which is where my tracker showed the bus stopped. No vehicles are at the location and it looks deserted, which is odd, as the work day is not quite over, even if it is a Friday. I'm beginning to doubt the building is being used during the day.
"What do you think," I ask Carly.
"Looks deserted."
"It does. Think we should go take a look before they get here?"
"If we don't, we'll have to wait all night or do it while they're in there."
I say, "Okay, let's do it," and move over to one of the fence poles of the chain link fence. I look up at the top of the ten foot fence and jump straight up, grab the top cap of the fence pole and swing myself over the top of the fence without touching the chain links.
"Showoff," Carly says, grinning, then scrambles up the same pole by grabbing and scaling the chain links like a spider monkey, flips herself over the top using a similar, but infinitely more stylish, acrobatic flip and lands beside me.
"Showoff," I counter, and we run for the building. "Over here," I say, and point at an enclosure built to the side of the building with a lower roof than the thirty foot roof of the main building. I'm hoping we can go up there and find a way in through a skylight. Making our way onto the flat roof, I see there are skylights evenly spaced across the building, just as I suspected there would be. Most big industrial buildings use skylights to provide light into the warehouse during the day, and vent hot air built up in the warehouse, so the business doesn't have to spend as much money on energy for lighting and air conditioning.
I don't know the layout of the building, so I head toward the front of the building as it's the most likely to have offices built there. I'm hoping they have built a mezzanine on top of the first floor offices that we can use to lower ourselves down onto rather than having to drop thirty feet to the warehouse floor if we try to enter through one of the skylights above the warehouse. I pick a skylight that looks like it's in a good place for what I'm planning and pop the locks off the cover and pull it off. Setting it aside, I'm looking at a second cover that has hinges on one side, so I know it opens, but whatever releases it is on the inside. Not letting that stop me I bend the louvers on the side of the skylight that let hot air out of the building and find a crank for opening the skylight. Taking another thirty seconds, I crank open the skylight and am rewarded with seeing the top of a drop ceiling for a second floor mezzanine offices about two feet from the top of the roof. Jackpot, we're in.
Carly and I stick our heads down into the skylight and listen. There are no sounds and I do not see any wiring for alarms or motion detectors, so we decide to make the entry. I pop open the ceiling tile and set it gently aside so I can put it back in place later and drop down into what looks like an office training room and almost snag my large utility bag on the ceiling grid. I brought the bag for whatever evidence, or interesting tech, we find. Henderson Robotics seems to be rotten with illegal activity and I'm not going to feel much guilt for taking their stuff. Not that I would feel much guilt anyway.
While I'm adjusting my bag, Carly drops in beside me then we make our way out into the hall to start our snooping. I have three things I'm looking for: the server room so I can connect a Snoop that will let me break into their network; the production facility so I can see what they're making; and a finished goods storage so I can steal a couple of whatever it is they are making, especially the neural neutralizers. I find the server room, but it's locked and I don't want to try to force the door. I settle for connecting a remote dial in router to the back of one of the executive's computers in their office.
When I come out I see Carly finishing her sweep of the upstairs. She's looking for anything that could provide us with useful information and either takes a picture of, or steal, if she thinks it is important and won't be noticed.
We head downstairs together and stop at the bottom of the stairs to listen. I still do not hear any sounds in the building, so we each head in different directions with the assumption the building is empty. Carly goes to the front offices and I look for the lab and production areas. I go downstairs and enter the lab and there are upwards of fifty workstations for doing electronics assembly. Neural neutralizers and some other electronic pieces of equipment in various stages of assembly are laid out on two assembly lines. All of the bins marked "Completed" are empty and nothing else in the room stands out, until I see several pages of wiring and assembly diagrams on one of the tables. They won't tell me nearly as much as a blueprint will, but it will give me a lot I can use towards figuring it out myself.
I quickly take pictures of the diagrams and head out the back double doors to the lab that I'm sure leads to the warehouse. The warehouse opens up into various areas for storage, shipping and receiving, and a locked cage holding what look to be hundreds of completed neural neutralizers and other inventory. Some of which I recognize, and some of which I have no clue what they are, which makes me very happy, as I want to see what the brainchild of these devices has created.
Whoever is running this operation is well on their way to building themselves a private work force of mind altered super geniuses. And that can only spell trouble with a capital "Mad Scientist."
I look up and see whoever installed the cage was sloppy, it doesn't have a top on the cage and doesn't extend all the way to the roof, so I jump up and grab one of the cast iron sprinkler pipes and swing myself over the fence and into the cage. That's when I hear it, the sharp sound of air rapidly released from the other side of the warehouse roll-up doors. The same sound I heard the bus making when it stopped in the parking lot to pick up the science students to bring them down here. They're here an hour early.
I doubt Carly can hear the sound from in the offices, and she doesn't have enhanced hearing like I do, so
I jump back over the fence and run for the offices to find Carly. When I find her, she's still going through offices. She seems to have found some things of worth as I see the bag she brought for collecting things has a bit of a bulge to it just as she ducks into another room.
"We've got a problem." I say as I poke my head into the office after her.
Chapter 46
As I pull my head back out of the room and run down the hall, I call back to Carly, "They're here! We have to go!" I don't wait to see her a moment later come flying out of the same door and starts running toward me. I drop my helmet's face shield into place and lead her back through the lab I was in before. From there I head for the double doors going back into the warehouse and look through the window only to see a light in the shape of a door open in the back of the warehouse.
"Come on, we need to get back upstairs." I say, and go back the way we came. Just as I'm about to come around the corner to the hall leading to the stairs, I hear voices, and skid to a halt. I almost clothesline Carly as I hold my arm up to stop her. "Too late," I whisper.
Someone is in the hall talking, "Get them going, I want to put out another fifty units tonight." Then I hear the tromping of heavy footsteps going up the stairs. A door clicks and the footsteps recede up the stairs.
I risk a look around the corner and see at the end of the hall a second way out to the warehouse that I didn't notice before.
Turning back to Carly, I say, "We didn't put the ceiling tile back in place." The plan was to put it back as we made our exit and not get caught inside the building, so I didn't worry about it. "I don't think we can risk trying to hide."
Carly is looking at my face shield, but can't see my face. Her eyes are also blocked with the wrap around goggles I gave her to use. Both her goggles and my face shield are providing light enhancement (I can't wait to get my HUD upgrades installed so I can see in multiple wavelengths). It seems like the hall is fully lit when only a couple lights in the hallways have been left on, one in the back by the exit to the warehouse and the other at the opposite end…which would be located near the front entrance to the building. "That way," I run down the hall and into the reception area, only to find the front doors are industrial steal fire doors, and they've been locked closed with a heavy chain.
"Aww, man. Screw these guys." I'm getting pissed and feeling like I'm being backed into a corner. Putting my hands on my hips and staring at the lock I tell Carly, "We may have to fight our way out of here."
I look over as she doesn't say anything and I see her adjusting her gloves and goggles and looking back at me. She's waiting for me to take the lead, I tell myself, It's up to me to get us out of here.
I take a deep breath and turn my back on the chained locked door. I could bust through it, but it would make hella racket and they'd be on us – in a room with only one exit. I whisper to Carly, "If we have to fight, I want it to be in the warehouse, then make our way outside as quickly as we can. I'll need the room to fight." Looking at the ceiling and the closed in walls, I'm suddenly feeling claustrophobic. One of the most important aspects of my super powers is my speed, and I won't be able to use it trapped in here.
Continuing to whisper, I say, "Okay, let's give them a few minutes to get all the students into the lab and out of the way. Then we'll make our way out the door to the warehouse by the stairs."
I get a nod of agreement, and Carly pulls her goggles off long enough to put her full hood mask on then puts the goggles back on. Being recognized would not be good, and I unlimber my shield and hammer. "I'll go first to clear the way. Anyone not wearing a neural neutralizer gets put to sleep. Be ready though, I'm betting they have at least one telepath."
Carly is tight lipped, but I don't see any fear, only determination, so I continue. "If you're able, tell me which ones are telepaths and I'll try to hit them with a fast ball. If anyone gets near you, rip off their hat."
Her mouth curls up in a smile and I can tell by her head tilt she's amused by my instructions. "Will you go already? You're starting to make me nervous."
Okay, I guess that's my queue. I switch my war hammer into my left hand with my shield so I can have a hand free to reach into the big utility bag on my belt and pull out what looks like an Ostrich egg. Carly starts to ask me a question, then I think she remembers that she just got me to shut up, and decides to let it go. The "egg" has indents on one end and I press one of them. It makes an audible click.
No one comes to investigate the noise, so I start moving quickly for the door to the warehouse. Half way there the door opens and in walks two men. The first is looking back, talking to the other, and they don't take notice of me until I speed up my walk in to a run. By the time they notice, it's too late and I use the shield as a battering ram to knock them back out into the warehouse. The first one is sprawled out and starting to roll over with a groan while the second one bursts into flames, which makes him my second ever elemental I'll have had to fight.
Fortunately, bursting into flame seems to be bad for neural neutralizers as his hat bursts into flames along with the rest of him. He's just about to throw a ball of fire he was building in his hand at me when his flames go out and he's falling back to the floor, unconscious, courtesy of Carly’s telepathy. Which then reminds me to reach down and pull the hat off the first guy before he clears his head. I'm past him and scanning the warehouse when he joins the fire elemental in sleepy land.
A shout of, "Hey!" comes from the middle of the warehouse where five men and a very tall Amazonian looking woman are standing around one of the students. The student, the amazon, and one of the men wearing a long coat are not wearing hats.
I don't know how well Carly can do against two telepaths, so I throw the egg up in the air, grab my baseball and throw a fastball at the closest of the two not wearing a hat, which would be the guy in the long coat. I'm rewarded with the sickening thud and crunch of bone of the baseball impacting his face, followed by the sound of his body hitting the floor. This is major league.
This seems to provide the motivation necessary for the woman and the remaining five men to scatter, but the student just stands there like nothing was happening. A second later, he turns to look at Carly and his eyes go wide before he starts running toward the lab. The time Carly spends saving the student with a telepathic inducement to run leaves her open to attack from the Amazonian, who stretches her arm out to Carly with her fingers spread out like you see vampires in the movies do when they're trying to mind control their next victim. Only this time it's not mind control and Carly is thrown against the fence surrounding the finished goods.
Carly reacts instantly by swiping her arm across herself and seems to be released from whatever it was pressing her up against the fence, then brings her other arm around and holds it up toward the Amazonian and clenches her fist. I've never seen telekinetics fight before and am surprised to see them waving their arms around.
That's the last thing I see before something slams into me from behind and I'm thrown across the room and slam into a pile of shipping pallets stacked up by one of the the roll-up doors. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I let myself be distracted while gawking.
I can feel whoever hit me still has a grip on my shoulder with one hand and gripping my forearm with the other. He's a lot stronger than me and about to crush my arm and shoulder in one go, so I activate my field generator and whip my shield back so the edge catches him in the chest.
The strongman is thrown back and I hear an audible "crack" of ribs breaking that sounds more like the crack of a rifle shot than ribs, followed by a loud "Oof!" of air bursting out of his lungs. I don't think he was a Class 4 like Welcoming Committee. I'm figuring a Class 3 from the pain I'm feeling in my shoulder. If he were a Class 4 I likely wouldn't have a shoulder.
The sound of cracking ribs is satisfying as I'm guessing he's never broken a bone in his life. The suit did its job perfectly and I was able to react instantly after slamming into the pallets rather than the normal head shaking and clearing of cobwebs I w
ould have had without armor. That and my shoulder and arm would have been mush without the protection of my armor plates.
I'm up and spinning around to face the guy with the now cracked ribs. He is standing, but bent over, holding his chest in front of me. So I sweep his legs with my hammer to get him out of my way and leave him to his pain. I turn off the field generator as it's messing with my face shield’s display (something I didn't test for before the mission). There are still at least four more people in the room who may want a piece of me and I take the time to do a quick sweep of the room. The light amplification in my face shield leaves no shadows in the warehouse. I'm wishing for my upgraded HUD as it would display red targeting cursors over the five people spread around the room I now have to identify as targets manually. As it is, the feed from the Black Dragon is only putting a targeting dot on one of them. It helps, but not a lot.
One of the three is running straight at me while two others are circling me and the fourth is standing still and pointing something at me. I break toward the guy running at me, hoping to get him in the line of fire, and and kneecap him as I go past. Only his knee isn't there and I miss. "Speedster?" I ask myself and feel three strong hits to my chest. The hits knock me around a little, but my armor continues doing its job.
I keep running and pull the shield up to protect myself from the guy who I now know was pointing an assault rifle at me, which he is unloading at me through the barrel. I give a command to Black Dragon to target lock and fire a volley of steel bearing at him while I do a quick scan around the room to find Carly. The booming staccato of the assault rifle is silenced and I catch a glimpse of the owner jerking from the hits of the steel bearings impacting his torso.
Nova Academy: A Superhero & Supervillain Novel Page 19
