“Are you guys all ready?” I whispered into the team comms.

Thorne and the four on Andrew’s team quickly replied affirmatively, and we began our infiltration mission into the headquarters of QuickLinks Logistics.

From the previous report, getting through the front gate was the easy part. Their sensors out front mainly scanned vehicles for dangerous items when passing by. Different from the basic Shades we sold, the customized versions were able to completely bypass these scans as a product created with ten points in stealth technology behind it.

The scanners at the entrance to each of the three buildings within the compound were another matter, though. They had magnetized fields that carefully screened and detected anyone passing by, and even though I was confident my Shade could get us through, the mass and weight detectors easily gave me away. It wasn’t like I could make myself weigh nothing or fly over them, either.

We first moved along the outer walls of the compound until we arrived at the western wall. We hugged the walls close, out of the camera’s sight, despite being in active camouflage, and each brought out an extendable shovel.

The six of us began to dig and with Thorne’s might, we quickly created a small hole the size of a bathroom stall. We placed the mini fridge-sized terminal into it along with Brian, from Andrew’s team.

The hole wasn’t deep enough for him to stand, so he had to crouch down and hug his knees. We then draped a large piece of dirt-colored fabric over them before we left.

We circled around and passed through the front gate toward the wide parking lot that was surrounded by the three buildings from the west, north, and east direction. They were each ten floors tall, but it was apparent the north building was the main one. It wasn’t only because it was positioned in the middle, but due to the building being much larger, with twice the girth compared to the other two.

The moment we entered the compound, our connection to the outside world was cut off. I could no longer make out the outline of my teammates as our connection to our company server was disrupted. We couldn’t communicate wirelessly either.

We had already expected this, having set an area to rendezvous at.

As I made my way across the compound, my eyes were drawn toward the entrances to the main building, where the security was naturally the tightest. Still, the other two were just as big of an issue for us as the main one as it could detect us from our mass alone.

I really need to look into a way to counter the mass sensors…

Instead of going toward any of the three entrances, I went around the back of the west building. I arrived by the wall and deactivated my camouflage after confirming it was safe to do so. A moment later, I watched Thorne, Andrew, and his teammates do the same.

We wordlessly gathered and waited.

When the time displayed in the corner of my vision hit noon, a thin cord was thrown over the wall and landed by our feet.

“Make sure you don’t tug it too fast,” I said to Thorne, who took hold of the cord.

He nodded, and we made our move. We didn’t bother to activate our camouflage yet, as a floating cord would give us away, anyway.

We moved to the base of the west building and brought out some gloves we had stored in our pockets. The gloves worked like suction cups, allowing us to climb up the building. Thorne and the others stayed back with the cord while I climbed up with my camouflage back on.

I didn’t go too far up, just toward the first window on the second floor, where I began peeking inside to find a room with access to a terminal. It didn’t take me long to find a lone man with his back facing the window, typing away on his terminal.

I took hold of my vibro-bladed dagger and slowly cut a small hole in the glass. I only felt confident doing this on the lower floors or my chance of being spotted would dramatically increase.

Thanks to the E-Dome they have employed, all wireless connections were down, which meant they couldn’t deploy the usual wireless sensors most buildings had to detect damages.

I took out the Nyes I had newly crafted and deployed them through the small hole I had cut out. I couldn’t get any live footage from them as wireless communications were down, but I had prepared for this, so they would return with the recordings for me. The footage they brought back informed me that there were no surprises inside, and the man really was alone.

The small hole I had cut out was able to fit the barrel of my Suri through it. The man was sitting so close, it would’ve been harder for me to miss.

+10 EXP

With the lone resident of the room out of the picture, I started cutting a much larger hole through the glass that could fit a person. A few minutes later, I placed one hand on the part of the glass that I was cutting, latching onto the piece of glass that was about to come loose. I gently carried the glass with me as I entered the building and placed it on the ground.

I signaled for the others, who soon followed me up.

“Peng, Mark,” Andrew whispered, “you two watch the door.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

I moved the body of the man out of the way as Thorne plugged in the cord he had been holding into the terminal.

“Okay, it’s connected. Leo and them should start their cyberattack any moment now,” Thorne noted as he watched the screen change.

I nodded and glanced over at the cord that ran from the terminal to all the way outside the walls.

“As planned, we’re leaving someone in here and one outside to keep watch.”

“I’ll stay with Peng. Mark, you keep going with Rollo and Thorne,” Andrew commanded.

“Roger that.”

I gestured for Mark and Thorne to secure the hallway on the other side of the door while I turned to Andrew. “Remember, don’t attack unless they notice something, so better get rid of that body, fast.”

He nodded in response, so I made my way out of the room to catch up with the other two. I found them stopped at a corner, waiting for me.

“Cameras and turrets looking down the entire hallway,” Thorne said. “The only blind spot is right under it, where the door to the stairs is.”

“Take turns moving past it so we don’t bump into each other.”

Thorne went first, followed by me, then Mark.

I spotted a few people in the rooms, but none of them came out. The three of us made it past the hallway, yet were blocked by the locked door to the stairwell.

“Give me a second. Stay in stealth in case someone comes out,” I said as I plugged into the panel on the wall.

With the help of the custom terminal I had implanted inside of me, the processing power I had access to was at least on par with the bulky, specialized hacking terminals.

Just like in practice, upon seeing the system’s defenses, I could intuitively tell what could work to breach the system. I wiped the sweat building on my brow and worked as steadily as I could. It would only take a small mistake for any cy-specialists on guard to notice me and make this a whole lot harder.

Before I knew it, I got through the system and I quickly unlocked the door. I checked the time to find out it had only been five minutes. This was much easier than what Leo and Lana had dished out at me.

But then again, this is just a door in a random hallway. Don’t get overconfident, it’s not likely to stay this easy.

“We’re in. Take a quick break here to allow our Shades to rest and then we’re off to the third floor,” I said as I pushed the door open.

The third floor was where I had spotted the sky bridges that connected the three buildings.

Our goal this time was the leader of QuickLinks Logistics, a silver-haired old man who was called Benjamin Links. There were also a few executives to be eliminated to disable their company’s ability to regroup after this attack.

As we made our way up the stairs, I could see movement outside from the windows of the stairwell. People rushed around outside, from building to building, with some going to reinforce the entrance. I watched as the metal gates began to close, shutting off all vehicle traffic to the compound.

They must be reacting to the cyberattack, thinking an imminent attack from the outside will soon follow.

We soon arrived on the third floor and I deployed my Nyes and sent them out to investigate the other side of the door. They soon returned and alerted me to a lot of activity on this level.

We quietly opened the door and moved as a single unit, placing a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us, as we couldn’t see each other.

When we came up on the sky bridge, we witnessed a team of security guards marching their way toward the main building. We quickly followed behind them and passed through the door leading onto the sky bridge.

They even had the decency to open the stairwell door for us once we crossed into the main building. Their team rushed downward, toward the lobby while my team headed up.

Our target was likely on the top floor. The leaders of companies all enjoyed placing their offices at the penthouse level. This was true for me as well.

I was thankful the stairwell connected to all ten floors, saving us the hassle of finding other staircases that led upward on each floor.

I’m sure this was the norm, though. I just couldn’t forget about the complex staircases at the lab place where I found Thorne and Claire.

On the tenth floor of the stairwell, I once again connected to the panel before me, so I could unlock it, as we didn’t have the security card. Again, the difficulty of this one wasn’t any different from the previous one, and I opened it in under ten minutes.

Immediately upon passing through the door, we instantly spotted two cyborgs looking over at us from where they stood. The door closed behind us, and the two buffy guards exchanged glances before one of them approached the stairwell.

I tapped on Thorne’s shoulder to signal him to ignore the guard and circled around to the other guard in the main hallway.

I glanced around for cameras and spotted one with a clear view of the guard we were approaching. It seemed like these two guys were guarding the elevator door. We had to take them out because there was no way they wouldn’t report this.

There was also a fancy double door just at the end of this hallway, so our target should just be behind it.

Is it time to go loud…?

I went off to a corner behind the guard and started pulling out the Pixies in my pack.

The guard who went to investigate soon returned in the meantime.

“Nothing there. Be on guard. There are probably some rats around. Watch my back while I go report this in.”

I quickly commanded the Pixies as I saw them approach a terminal on the wall. I release three Pixies that quickly charge toward the two guards and the camera overseeing us. They were relatively close, so in just two seconds, they reached their target and a bright flash of light filled the hallway.

I could hear screeching metal as the two cyborgs struggled to move after getting hit by the EMP. I rushed toward them and plunged my vibro dagger into them before they could move again.

+20 EXP

+20 EXP

When I was done, I turned around to find Thorne out of camouflage, standing at the ready behind me, with his wrist blade out, glancing around cautiously. Mark had his back against him, holding his rifle at the ready.

“I think they’ll know we’re here from that,” He said as he saw me materialize beside him.

I rushed forward toward the double door and found it was locked. I quickly released the Nyes to scout out the situation on the other side of the door and plugged into the panel beside the door.

“It’s a race against time now. Let’s finish this before they send a team—”

‘Malicious program detected. Proceeding to quarantine the—’ Kiri’s voice suddenly rang out in my ears.

What? There was a virus on the door panel here?

A trap? Why…? Did they know I was coming or has this always been here?