Act 27: Holes In Security and Holes In The Wall

--- Joshua ---

Knowing that if he wanted more resources for the Cabaret he was going to have to put on another show, he decided that it wouldn’t hurt to put on a show without the Malice Doctor telling him to. (After all he said as long as I do his missions he doesn’t care what I do on my own time.)

Of course given how said doctor had given him a fair bit of intel on two other targets, he figured it’d be a terrible thing to let that intel go to waste. And given how the goal of this show was to gather as much madness as possible, he went for the venue that would have the largest audience.

Namely the mall with the jewelry store inside, because while the place was likely to have a junior hero, he felt a bit more confident in his combat abilities after his time in the Gamer Guild’s Dungeon. What’s more since his goal was neither to actually succeed in the robbery (though it’d be nice) or defeat whichever junior hero he came across (which would be even nicer), the fact that the junior heroes’ PR events always drew in a crowd could only work in favor of his actual goal of gathering as much Madness as possible. (And maybe we could steal a few of their fans while we’re at it.)

(Ooh, I like that idea.)

Still all of that was tomorrow’s objectives, today’s objectives were more focused on what he felt was the most important part of any heist: The getaway plan.

Much like when he’d searched for escape routes from the Dealer’s house his larger scale options were mostly using a mix of rooftops and back alleys to break sight with the heroes and then change back from his Villainous persona into his more civilian identity of ‘Joshua’.

(Hmm, I wonder if I could steal another car to escape?)

(With police that’d probably end with our face plastered all over the news in a high speed chase with the coppers.)

(You act like having our face known everywhere would be a bad thing.)

(Point.)

He shook his head clear of the fantasy of being the city’s most wanted criminal, and instead focused on the smaller scale escape options that could let him get away before things escalated to that level. (Because I’m not actually stupid enough to go against the big boy heroes if I can help it just yet.)

His research on this front offered him a few more options, though they were all variants of the same general plan revolving around a useful bit of information he managed to pick up about malls while digging around.

During his previous show, he’d taken advantage of the fact that most outdoor stores and shopping centers had back alley loading areas for them to restock their goods to hide from the dealers. As he was going over the mall layout he eventually realized that despite being inside of the mall, a fair number of the stores in the mall would require a similar loading area for them to stock their own goods.

This led to the discovery that most malls had a number of service tunnels connecting to a loading dock and/or parking area. (Meaning if I can get into those service tunnels I’ll have an express route to a non-standard exit, which I doubt the junior heroes will know about until someone tells them.) (By which point we’ll be long gone.)

(And since all of the stores should connect to the service entrance, that means I can use any store to escape, and even if they follow me into the tunnels I can just cut through another door to get into the rest of the mall. Enough zigs and zags like that I’m bound to kill their line of sight long enough to drop my costume and stuff my loot in a backpack.)

Scene Consequences

-New Escape Routes Added to Mall Heist.

-Gained 1XP to Thievery and Slyness.*

--Currently: Thievery Lv. 3 (3/8) and Slyness Lv. 2 (5/6)

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

*A/N: You got 2XP here because I realized I never gave XP on the last escape plan search and his stats are still low enough to get points from them.

---

Seeing as how he’d finally cracked his [Hole In The Wall] power and was planning another heist in the near future, he decided to run a few experiments with the power in the hopes of having a better understanding of it before his next show. (And if I’m lucky I might even be able to use it to help with my escape and entrance there.)

“Now then, first test: Can I use more than one hole at a time?” He asked himself, as he created two separate holes on a glass pane, something thin enough for his power to work on but solid enough that he couldn’t just tear through it.

Placing his hand on each he began pushing against the holes, finding that both had the rubbery feel of his first few attempts at cracking this power, but that neither wanted to let his hand actually pass through them. (Well, something is here but I’ve got to figure out what it is…)

Deciding to try this a different way, he created a Hole In The Wall and stuck his hand through it before creating a second hole and sticking his hand through it. Then with a confirmation that each hole worked he tried sticking his hand through the first Hole and found that it failed to do so. A result that the second hole then mimicked when he went back to it.

“Alright, so I can probably create a second hole but I don’t have enough power to do so just yet.” He nodded, before pulling out a vial of Malice, the solution to all of his regular power troubles.

With strawberries and copper on his tongue, he ran the same experiment again with a song in his head this time, and found himself to have the same results. “So it’s probably a decently sized power gap if that didn’t work…”

Deciding to come back to this issue at a later time, he figured it’d be a shame to waste a vial of Malice on a deadend and so instead tried to divert the power to a different experiment on his list, one that he knew was going to take some finangling based on how his powers usually seemed to work.

One of the earliest upgrades he’d acquired for his Ink Tags was the ability to make them move, even if only by a few inches. What he was curious about was whether or not this was a phenomenon he’d be capable of copying for his holes, because if it was… (Actually, I’m not really sure what use this has.)

(Maybe we could nudge the holes a bit if we put it in the wrong wall, Madness tends to love messing with people like that.)

“That is a valid point.” He agreed with himself, before setting out to draw another hole on the window.

With the hole in place and knowing that he could stick his arm through it, he reached out to it with the thread of his power that usually allowed him to manipulate his tags and drawings, only to find that there was no such connection between him and the hole.

“Huh?” He frowned, before drawing several more holes around the alley’s various windows and doors, and finding the exact same issue with each and every one. “I guess this power isn’t like my Ink Tags and Drawings, despite me drawing it… Once I set the hole it disconnects from me, for some reason… Maybe it’s like my Ink Blot, since I can’t really manipulate the ink after throwing it.”

(Not yet anyway.)

He stared at one of the black spots on the window before making a new one on the thicker wall and putting his hands against, while also making sure not to let his hands sink through. Something that he felt he could only pull off because he actually couldn’t push his holes to pierce the brick walls just yet.

Still with his hands on the black spot, he tried feeling out for any connection between him and the hole. When after several minutes of this he found he still couldn’t feel any connection, he decided to try seeing if adding more ink to the hole would strengthen whatever connection there had to be between him and it given how it was his power.

This time he did feel something connecting him and the hole, but by the time he’d added enough ink for that he was beginning to reach the end of his reserves and couldn’t add enough to maintain the connection.

“Dammit!” He cursed, punching the wall. “I was so clo-kay this is weird.” He admitted feeling his arm go through the wall that he knew was too thick for him to actually pierce.

Wondering if he’d somehow managed to brute force a different kind of breakthrough, he stuck his head through the wall and found that he had managed to make his Hole In The Wall go far deeper than he’d thus far managed.

“Huh, not what I wanted but this is a decent conso-” His connection to the holed snapped shut, and he felt an intense pressure across every part of his body still inside of the hole. A pressure that he was sure was going to cleave him in two before with a stumbling step he shot out of the hole and back into the bricks of the wall opposite of the one he’d been experimenting on.

“Okay… let’s not do that again…” He gasped.

(At least not until you’ve got the power to actually maintain it of course. Then we’re absolutely doing this again.)

Scene Consequences

-Gained 1XP to Ink Tags, Hole In The Wall, and Ink Production.

--Due to Synergy bonus between Hole In The Wall and Ink Production gained 1XP to each.

--Due to Malice Vial gained (D6=3/3=1) XP to all powers.

---Currently: Ink Tags lv. 3 (5/8), Hole In The Wall Lv. 1 (3/4), and Ink Production Lv. 4 (3/10).

-Potential Power Upgrade Revealed: Dig Deeper (Requires: Hole In The Wall and Ink Production Lv. 5)

System Update: I’m removing [Creeping Ink] as a power because we aren’t really using it, and it’s kind of redundant as is. So instead [Creeping Ink (I)] is now a perk/power upgrade that lets us move our Ink Tags once placed with the distance based on Tag level and Perk Tier.