Alexa found no juice.
There was no god in this world.
“We will get you a juice on the way back, or maybe we can find one at the bank.” [Fan Girl] said for what felt like the fifth time.
“Check your gear.” While [Golem] was less comforting about her bane.
She didn’t understand this dichotomy, at some point [Fan Girl] had turned into soothing her instead of her angry self that she had put to display. Asking her about that ended with the answer, “I needed to show that I am angry because you did ditch me at the bar, but that act was mostly because some people are unnerved because you change your form too often, so me being like that and you acting as if nothing is to give them proof that you aren’t a weapon of mass destruction that will flip off on them.”
So she acted like that to show people that Alexa was…friendly? And not some weapon of mass destruction?
But she WAS a BioWeapon designed to… to do what? What was her prime mission?
“[Eat, Grow, Evolve.]”
Those were the Main Directives! Not her main mission!
She…may need to revisit that place again if she wanted to answer that question, well, she didn’t really need that question answered did she? But it would be good to know, she could then decide if following it or not.
She didn’t mind following it if it was in synch with what she was, so long her Main Mission was doing something Cute, then Alexa would do it!
If it involved the need of being pretty or becoming pretty, then Ale could take care of it…
And if it needed someone beautiful…well she had Alexandra for that, the naggy one could work for her food!
Or for their food, whatever was at the moment, Alexa would not judge!
“Gear is in perfect condition,” [Fan Girl] answered first; she checked her bodysuit and armor parts; she had a weird plate stuck at her back. But a simple flick of her [Core Powers] was enough to let her hover over as if nothing.
Alexa checked herself, and sure enough, her bodysuit was in perfect condition too, mostly because Alexa could remake it if needed and keep it pristine, so checking herself was a moot point.
“We are set to arrival in five minutes to the dropout point, prepare to rumble.” [Mikey] said from the front of the Vehicle.
Alexa was always ready to rumble!
She was the rumble!
“Sylph, as soon as we disembark, you are to-,” [Golem] started saying, only for [Fan Girl] to huff.
“I know, shot up straight up and start monitoring, gosh. These gave us the most boring positions possible.” [Fan Girl] said annoyed. “What about you Golem? Happy with your simple job of being a troll?”
“A job is a job.” [Golem] just answered, “I can’t blame them for giving me such a job; I wouldn’t expect them to give me a job that requires a swift or delicate hand, not with this body.”
But then again…Alexa was sure that if he shaved some parts of his fingers, he could probably be able to do a detailed job better than most humans since the fact that he didn’t have muscles or nerves meant that he probably also didn’t have a problem with keeping a steady hand.
All that was needed was some practice, at least Alexa thought so.
“Rhapsody, are you ready?” [Golem] asked, turning his attention to Alexa.
Was she ready? Hadn’t they asked the same thing several times in the last ten minutes?
“Of course!” Alexa was ready, so she answered as such. She didn’t have much to prepare or anything to study after all; she only needed to say, “I will disembark and prepare to do my job; I need to….”
Alexa was about to say her job, but suddenly remembered that her data package only had some vague instructions about what she needed to do, she was supposed to only set up herself to act as one of her targets and infiltrate.
Nothing else was said to her about the plans, perhaps she would be instructed at the site? That felt like a bad way to prepare for what sounded like a very delicate plan.
“Incoming transmission, identification code is from the client.” [Mikey] said from the front, “Do you want the headphones or do I patch the call to the speakers?”
“Patch the call,” [Golem] answered without hesitation, “They probably will give us detailed instructions since we are close to the site.”
Would they?
“Aye, sir,” [Mikey] answered, flicking up one of the switches on his dashboard, “Theater Troupe, this is Fairy Dust, Fairy Leader, and Fairy troopers listening.”
“Identification name received, Fairy Dust. Do you have clearance?” The voice on the other side asked; it sounded like a male voice, somewhat younger than [Golem] by the tone.
“I have clearance up to Minion work for B-List Villain grunt work.” [Mikey] answered.
What was that type of clearance? It was like, you can go and get the coffee for a B-List Villain, then?
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Acknowledged,” The voice on the other side answered, “Fairy Leader, do you give clearance to the briefing?”
So it didn’t matter?!?!?
At the end of the day you are going to ask for [Golem] anyway!?!?!?
“Go ahead, Fairy Dust will need to be informed since he will pick us up as needed. Also he has work as messager in case the network goes down.” [Golem] added as his answer seemed to imply that [Mikey]’s job would be more complex than what Alexa had thought.
“As you wish Fairy Leader,” The voice at the other side answered back, “First, you are to dispatch Fairy Wind as soon as possible, if your tracking is to be trusted you are within the area of our target.”
Were they already within range? Hadn’t [Mikey] said that they would arrive within five minutes?
They were moving quite fast, faster than a normal [Human] walking speed. How could they be already within the area? What size was one of these [Banks]!?!?!?!?
“Are you ready?” [Golem] said turning to [Fan Girl].
“Ugh…. fricking bank heists.” [Fan Girl] grumbled.
“Fairy Wind, please refrain from using wording that may imply we are committing a crime, and get into position.” The voice on the other side said.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Stupid technomancer Core Users listening into the radiowaves and all that bullshit,” [Fan Girl] said doing some mock gestures at the radio, “Okay, I’ll see you guys later then. Fairy Wind deploying.”
And without any other fanfare, [Fan Girl] pushed open the door at the back of the Vehicle, weirdly enough no wind got inside the Vehicle even though the pressure should have changed with that.
[Fan Girl] just did a small bow and in one step exited the Vehicle. The Human coming behind them did a weird expression on his face and his Vehicle slowed down, but [Fan Girl] shot straight up and then the [Human] that had slowed and was driving behind them did some gestures with his hands, but a single glare from [Golem] was enough to silence him.
“Was that appropriate? The civilian will report this to the authorities.” [Golem] said turning his attention back at the radio.
“As he should, any upstanding civilian should report any criminal activity after all.” The man on the other side of the radio said.
So, was this a diversion? But then giving them instructions would compromise all of this, right? If they feared that they were being monitored…
“The next piece will come from the encoded messages, Fairy Dust. Since you are here, please cooperate.” The man on the other side of the radio said, [Mikey] shrugged at that and opened the hidden compartment at the front of the dashboard.
“Confirmed, four envelopes.” [Mikey] said looking at the envelopes, they had some numbers engraved atop them.
“Fairy Leader, you are to read envelope marked as G5.” [Mikey] took said enveloped and passed it to [Golem], “Fairy 01, you are to read enveloped marked as G4,”
Well, wasn’t that one particular ominous number to give Alexa. [Mikey] didn’t seem to think too much and gave Alexa her envelope too.
“Any further instructions will be provided when needed, if you need any clarification please use the assigned number.” The man on the other side of the stereo said.
“Orders recieved, we will move as instructed. I assume Fairy Dust knows our deployment areas?” [Golem] said turning to look at [Mikey].
“Fairy Leader drop point is H3.” The man on the other side of the radio said.
“...Roger that.” [Mikey] didn’t seem happy about that if his tone of voice was something to go by, “What about Fairy 01?”
“Fairy 01, your drop point is A0.” The voice said without acknowledging [Mikey]’s question, “Fairy Dust, you are to wait at point M7 for further instructions; one of our men will be waiting for you there.”
So [Mikey] also had a mission? Alexa wondered what the other envelopes said… Or what [Golem]’s envelope had…
“Roger that,” [Golem] said, and like that the radio went silent.
“As Sylph said, fricking clients.” [Mikey] groaned, “The original drop point was near a park, but they made Sylph leave on the freeway…”
Well, that was certainly one way to make sure their target was hidden… Alexa wondered how far away was her new drop point…
“What about us?” [Golem] asked, “They never quite told us where we would disembark either.”
“You two were supposed to disembark two streets away from the National Bank in a gas station.” [Mikey] answered, so their target was a national bank?
What is a National Bank?
“And now?” [Golem] asked. He sounded as if he believed their target had changed somehow.
“Now? Well, your dropout point is on a mall garage parking, at the top floor actually.” [Mikey] groaned, “It will probably be empty since the mall in question is about to close, so there is that.”
“And Rhapsody?” [Golem] asked, turning to look at Alexa.
“Yeah, what about Alexa?” Alexa also asked interested.
“Well, the original dropout point was at the school the girl you are impersonating attends, you would then hijack her limo and go to the bank…” [Mikey] said, but then groaned again.
“But we aren’t hitting the national bank, so my identity no longer matters?” Alexa asked confused, if the identities she had taken were for the target then they didn’t matter anymore, did they?
“Oh those? I don’t know about them, but read the envelope for those, all I know is that I need to drop you at a restaurant.” [Mikey] answered.
Alexa opened the envelope and read the instructions.
“......” Alexa read them and turned to look at [Golem], this…was it that easy? “Exit the Vehicle, walk at the back where the Limousine is, and ask the driver to go to the State Bank. Your identity will allow you to enter without checks. Follow the instructions of the data package, page 152, subsection P, paragraph 4.”
As for what those instructions said…
“[Host is to infiltrate the bank by impersonating the target as ordered, if possible order the security forces to guard the Limousine and prevent it from leaving. Also host is to order all the people that she finds to destroy their phones.]”
“Then Alexa needs to-” Alexa was about to parrot back what she had heard.
“To not share whatever your instructions are; the client is very finicky with data breaches; that is why our envelopes are codified like that and why they wanted to send us to new locations.” [Golem] said taking his envelope, folding it neatly, and putting it into his bodysuit.
Alexa had wanted to take a peek at that!
“[Target Designation: Golem’s Envelope only said to make a much damage as possible and to try and pretend that his target was the National Bank instead of the State Bank.]”
“What is the difference between the National and State Bank?” Alexa asked confused at the naming, these felt as if both worked for the same entity after all.
“The National Bank is endorsed and guarded by the government.” [Golem] said answering the question, “The State Bank is endorsed and guarded by The Saintsworths.”
…Why?
“So the State Bank is endorsed by the [Saintworths]? And that is the one we are raiding?” Alexa asked to confirm.
Of course she had no problem attacking and stealing from the [Saintsworths], even if she was using their last name as hers, she had, after all. She was the property of the [Saintsworths], so technically, every moment she spent outside their umbrella was one more second, and she was stealing something from them!
Even if that something was herself.
“Don’t overthink about it,” [Golem] said, probably interpreting her silence as worry, “We, as Minions, don’t take credit or the fall for any heist we take part in; Vulcanus will take the fallout for any problem created. Like for me, for example. I will probably get a few charges, but ultimately they will be redirected to [The Theater Master]. As soon as he takes credit for it, I will be relegated to the position of a mindless weapon.”
Alexa was still somewhat jealous of that, if she could act like a mindless weapon then she could use that as excuse to devour a human or two here and there.
“Okay,” Either way, for now, Alexa nodded as the Vehicle started climbing up some type of construction.
“You just do your job, Rhapsody. Yours is somewhat easier, but even so, it will have inherent risks. If someone finds out you are a shapeshifter, things may get dicey. The Heroes don’t like leaving free shapeshifters for long. If they catch you they may want to seed a Tinker Grade GPS tracker, so try to stay away from any Hero you find.” [Golem] said as the door of the Vehicle opened, Alexa peeked out and found a empty lot with some vehicles here and there. “If you need to run away don’t hestitate, I know you want to probably prove your worth or something, but your life is more important than a job.”
And like that, [Golem] exited the Vehicle and closed the door. Rude, she was talking to him.
“Do you want me to call them and say you had a stomache?” [Mikey] asked from the front, “I know the feeling of a first big job, mine was like after a month of working here, but even though my job was getaway driver I was nervous the whole time.”
Did she want to skip? No, not really.
“I’ll be fine.” Alexa said, nodding to herself as the Vehicle started going down. At the back Alexa heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground, the Vehicle almost jumped.
“The boss jumped down huh,” [Mikey] laughed as the roar of something sounded at the back, “And he already is doing his job as mindless monster, heh. Never would have guessed he could do it that well.”
Alexa had heard better roars…
“So, your drop point is farther away, so think about it. As far as I managed to find yours is one of several targets, the operation will move as scheduled even if you don’t go.” [Mikey] said again.
Did she want to risk it by infiltrating a [Saintsworth] facility? The reward could be very well worth it if she managed to steal some extra things while she was inside…
She may be able to find more about the facility she was at, like for example. Why had it been a school group at that precise time? She hadn’t thought much about it while escaping. Since it had been convenient.
But now? Now she knew more about the [Humans], just like how they didn’t send their kids to pet [BioWeapons] for sport.
Then why had [Teach]’s group been there? It was too convenient, that the first contact she had with the [Huhmans] had been a group of people the right age, and body build to allow her to mesh.
There must have been more to it.
“I’ll do the job,” Alexa said, she went about the possible reasons why that had happened.
But nothing seemed to fulfill the, quite frankly, an incredible amount of coincidences.
“[Possible theory: Medling from someone to allow this to happen,]”
That was obvious Main Core. Someone had meddled to achieve this, but who?
The [Lieutenant]? She doubted it, the man seemed content with annoying Alexa and playing with her, so who else?
“And here we are, the restaurant you only need to walk to the parking lot there. Go for the biggest car you can find and just ask in the most stuck-up voice you can to go to the bank; the driver will do the rest.” [Mikey] said as they slowed and parked on the side of the street.
“Okay,” Alexa said as she sent a prompt to Main Core to kickstart the shift.
It was time to work.