Chapter 24:

Their plan of action was relatively simple, though the execution of that plan was the real challenge.

They had two objectives. Capture Blitz and get the cube. They already had eyes on Blitz and one of the Bugbots was continuously monitoring the big metal storage cabinet that Mononoke stored the cube in two days ago. It was in a hidden storage room next to Flamelium’s lab.

In an ideal world, Katie’s Bugbots could sneak into the storage room and take the cube out so they could focus on Blitz. Unfortunately, the reason the Bugbots were able to invade everywhere and stay unnoticed was because of how small they were. Combined with how well-sealed the storage room was, and it wasn’t possible to get the fist-size cube out without opening that door, even if her Bugbots worked together.

That meant they needed to sneak into that room, grab the cube, and then go after Blitz. All while ideally not alerting any of the other Villains.

At one point, they’d considered just going after Blitz once he left the hideout instead of attacking him inside. But after watching him come and go from the hideout a couple of times, they realize that it wasn’t a very viable plan.

Despite being a terrible piece of shit, Blitz wasn’t stupid. He’d been ambushed once and even two weeks after he was still on alert. Combined with him being a Speedster, and ambushing him outside of the hideout was pretty much impossible.

Either alone or with Flamelium, when he left he would activate a Skill inside the lair and blur out of the building. He always varied his route out, and even if he didn’t, the Skill he used made an ambush infinitely harder. Extreme Rush was a must-have for his kind of Speed Enhancer, and because of that its properties were well known. It would be incredibly difficult to ambush him in that state, let alone force him out of it.

The main weakness of the Skill was that it had a long cooldown, but that didn’t help them deal with it. So instead they decided that attacking him inside the warehouse before he was fully on guard would be best.

If it was just Ben and Katie trying to do this, things would have been a lot more complicated. But with Resolve here and her ability to make things invisible, it made things a lot easier.

That isn’t to say that things were easy though.

One hitch in the plan was the infrared cameras that watched the outside and inside of the warehouse. They were ready for Resolve's brand of invisibility. Thankfully Katie could take care of those. Not wanting to risk hacking into their networks, just in case they hired or had a Tinker that specialized in computers or software, Katie had her Bugbots study and recreate exactly what the cameras should be seeing.

In one smooth motion, they would cover up the camera lens and return the exact recreation of an empty version of what they should be seeing.

Something that sounded easy, but Katie had assured several times was quite difficult to do seamlessly.

But still, it could be done and all that was left was keeping quiet and sneaking inside. With all the extensive surveillance they’d done, it should have been relatively simple. Yet they’d still have to be cautious, as to avoid detection, Katie’s Bugbots hadn’t been equipped with any sensors to pick up hidden traps. They’d have to do that when they actually went in to avoid tipping them off until the last moment.

But once they were inside, that’s when they’d get to the second hardest thing they had to do. Because while the hidden storage area entrance was at least not in the room the majority of the Villains hung out, the path to it was through that room. So they’d have to sneak right through all those villains before they could attempt to break into the storage area.

Invisibility made it possible to do this, but that just hid them from sight. It did nothing for sound, smell, or feeling. So it would be up to them to pick the right time and path through the Villain's lair. All while staying extremely close together as Resolve couldn’t keep them all invisible if they were too far apart.

And of course, then there was the hardest part. Getting Blitz.

One option that Resolve had suggested and had been adamant would work was for her to take the tranquilizer Katie acquired, sneak up on Blitz, and stab him with it before grabbing him and getting out in several teleports.

But that plan had a lot of things that could go wrong. In a room with four, sometimes five other Villains, some with potentially unknown abilities, it was possible that getting too close to them would be enough to alert them somehow. Another issue was the tranquilizer. High-end tranquilizers that could knock out a B-Rank Enhancer instantly were just not something they could procure in any reasonable amount of time.

So even if she tranquilized him, Blitz would still be fighting back for a while and he was still a B-Ranker. Resolve could only teleport two people at a time, so neither Ben nor Katie could help in that situation unless they were too close to escape while Resolve was teleporting.

Then there was the final possibility that they missed some traps on the way in and Resolve might end up running into something on the way out. There was no single straight path for her to travel, so even with her teleports, she’d have to stop for a moment or two before continuing out.

So despite it being Resolve's preferred plan, they decided to go with something else.

Instead, they’d wait until Flamelium was by herself. They’d tranquilize her and keep her quiet. Then they’d used the audio recording Katie had been collecting to fake her voice and call Blitz to her. Ideally, he’d come alone, they’d grab him, Katie would smash them a path out of the warehouse and they’d leave.

A bit excessive but there were boarded-up doors back there that they could break out of instead of busting through a wall so it wasn’t that bad.

And if he wasn’t alone, it should still be less difficult than the entire group of five and something the three of them could be able to handle.

Was the plan perfect? Probably not. But was it the best one they could come up with? Pretty much.

Which was why after going over the plan they’d created the last few days one more time, they finally left their rooftop hideout and began approaching the warehouse.

Not needing to be invisible just yet, the three black-clad Supers made their way down the midrise individually. Ben and Katie floated down into the alleyway, with Resolve conserving energy and just climbing down the fire escape almost as fast as the rest of them.

At the same time, twenty of Katie’s augmented Attack Bugbots came along. Katie had more of them stationed on the roofs of buildings around the warehouse, but these ones would be the ones going in with them. The rest would all charge in if things turned into a fight and Katie needed the full power of all her Bugbots.

Though perhaps Ben needed to think of them as something else, as they no longer really looked like bugs. Instead, each one was just an extremely short cylinder with a central eye and two extendable grasping arms. They all had an urban camouflage design painted on them and moved using Katie’s antigrav combined with tiny but powerful thrusters, which Katie had augmented to produce no visible light.

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Perhaps Ben would call these ones Pancake Bots? Or Cakebots? Maybe Frisbee Bots? Or maybe just this once he’d call them Drones…

Maybe… He’d have to think about it.

Once they were all on the ground, they made their way to the same street as the warehouse. Katie led the way as she had more of her scout Drones in the area and could lead them away from any random civilians. It was a bit late in the evening, but not late enough for the streets to be guaranteed to be empty.

Still, the neighborhood wasn’t a busy place, so they made it just around the corner from the warehouse without having to hide from anyone. From there, they got as close as they could to each other and still be able to react to dangers. Katie’s Drones moved closer too, stacking on top of each other and magnetically locking with a click to minimize the amount of space they took up.

Once that was all done, Resolve began to work her Skill. Apparently, she had a full-on Invisibility Skill but it could only turn herself invisible. So instead she was using a Manipulation Skill to recreate the more specific Skill which took more time and effort to do.

After about thirty seconds the air around them seemed to shimmer and twist, and the world around them seemed to dim like a very poorly lit room despite the street lights. Looking at where the girls were, Ben could only see very vague outlines. To anyone beyond the three of them though, they’d be completely invisible.

“It’s done,” Resolve said in a quiet voice.

“Alright then, let’s go,” Katie said, and then the three of them and two stacks of Katie’s Drones moved out. “Remember to use our code names if we have to call out to each other. I’m Bots, Gem is shock, and Resolve is still Resolve.”

Ben whispered his agreement to that while Resolve just grunted. Since Resolve’s Identity was already a Vigilante, she didn’t really feel the need to hide herself.

They walked around the brick building they were hiding behind and made their way to the warehouse. After crossing the street that was empty of most things except a broken-down car and random trash, they reached the perimeter of the warehouse and leaped over the chainlink fence. Thankfully, with Ben, Katie, the Drone Stacks' antigrav, and Ellie’s own athleticism, it wasn’t too hard despite how close they had to stick together.

After that, they followed a predetermined path that would take them past the least amount of cameras possible. This was so there were fewer chances of the Villains noticing anything wrong with the camera feeds they had to alter.

They went from the perimeter fence to one of the sides of the building that had an accessible entrance. The remaining workers had left for the day, so the only thing they had to worry about was the already taken care of cameras. One faced the door from the outside while another from inside. And all of them were covered by Katie’s smallest drones and being fed false images.

Katie took care of the lock keeping them out in fifteen seconds flat and just like that they were inside the warehouse.

The metal door opened smoothly into the building. It was another reason they chose this entrance as the other side door squeaked. Katie gave the area a quick look and presumably a scan with some of her equipment before moving inside. Ben and Resolve followed closely behind her.

Resolve’s invisibility was pretty much perfect, but they all stayed low and moved slowly regardless. They still had to worry about sound after all, and why take the chance that somehow the invisibility could be breached?

Steadily, they made their way through an empty corridor with the lights off, bypassing a door that would lead into the central area of the warehouse and all the cameras there. Instead, they continued until they reached the back section of the warehouse where they’d normally have offices and small storage rooms.

For this warehouse, half of all those rooms had been converted into a lair for the Villains. Thankfully though, they left enough of the walls up so that the main area of the lair didn’t have eyes on the door to the rest of the warehouse. That made it a lot easier for the three of them to make their way inside without having to create any distractions and put the Villains on guard.

After another quick lock picked by Katie, they made it into the lair of the Villains and things became extra tense. Katie still took the lead as she could move and see from her Spy Drones at the same time. But now she moved even slower and more carefully, as did Ben and Resolve as they made their way into the lion’s den.

“Oh, piss off. You think I’m scared of you little girl? You’re not Warp.”

“I don’t need to be Warp to kick your ass. And that’s exactly what’s gonna happen if you keep running your mouth.“

Ben winced at the raised voices. After moving through the eerily quiet warehouse, the sudden volume change was a bit jarring. Still, this might be a good thing. There was what sounded like an argument going on so it would make things easier as they’d be distracted.

The three of them continued past a couple of bathrooms before they made it to the entrance to the main lair area. It was larger than a double-wide door and looked like someone just cut an entrance into a wall instead of spending the time doing it right.

Inside the well-lit room were the five expected people. Knight Stick, Bounce, Mononoke, Flamelium, and Blitz.

Knight Stick was looking away from the arguing pair, one cheek in a hand as he boredly looked at the TV. Bounce’s green-clad form was on the couch, arms crossed and a frown on her face as she looked at Blitz. Flamelium was still on the one-seater she’d been sitting in with Blitz and was shrunk in on herself. Meanwhile, Mononoke and Blitz were standing up off to the side.

Despite being shorter than the older man, Mononoke was in Blitz’s face and poked him in the chest.

“I keep telling you, you fucking keep trying that chauvinist shit in front of me and I’m gonna kick your teeth in, asshole. You think Warp will stop me? Out of the two of us, he’d pick me a hundred times out of ten and the only reason we even let you in is Flamelium.”

Blitz tried to swat her finger away but she pulled it back before he could, leaving him swatting the air. He scowled at that and tried to loom over her. “I’d like to fucking see you try. You think you're hot shit cause you’ve leveled fast, but you're as green as grass. You don’t have a killer edge. The only reason I’m not fucking teaching you a lesson is cause your Warp’s whore and him I respect at the very least.”

Mononoke laughed at that. “Oh, right? That’s what’s holding you back. My hypothetical relationship with the boss. And not the fact that all you are is your Rank. And the only people scared of you is your own fucking girlfriend cause you're a piece of shit who likes to pretend to be dangerous.”

“Pretend? I don’t need to pretend,” Blitz hissed out. “You think I’m not dangerous. You think I’m all talk? Why don’t you ask Crimson Judgement about that, huh? Oh, wait, the vigilante piece of shit was torn to shreds. And if you don’t start watching your manners, then maybe you’ll suddenly find yourself in the same position one of these days.”

Ben’s eyes widened at Blitz’s boast and looked to Resolve to see her reaction. But the hazy outline of her body told him little of her thoughts on the matter.

“Ignore them, let’s go,” Katie whispered through short-range comms. At the same time, Ben could see her reach out and put a hand on Resolve’s shoulder as she led the other girl into the room. They were moving off to the side, hopefully out of all the Villains’ lines of sight.

Ben followed along closely behind, trying not to pay too much attention to the argument in the room.

“Oh, fucking please,” Mononoke said with a scoff. “Every brain-dead wannabe tough Villain claims they were a part of that. Which is dumb as fuck for several reasons, the biggest one being that if you were really a part of it then your just begging to die if word got out to Dr. Ruin.“

It was Blitz’s turn to scoff. “That’s just a fucking rumor. You think a S-Rank Villain like Dr. Ruin gives a shit about some vigilante fuck just cause we ‘went over the line?’ Jackal King was always an asshole and he probably just pissed off Dr. Ruin. He’s hardly the first Villain that maniac has demolished. And even if Dr. Ruin cared? So what? Like you said, so many people say that shit that no one knows the truth. But I was fucking there you little bitch. I fucking helped gut the fucker. You’ve seen the videos. I was the speedster there. I fucking took his hand as he was trying to protect that girl. Little bitch was probably his daughter and if we had the time I would have made him watch as I—“

In a split second everything changed.

In one moment, Ben was gritting his teeth as he endured Blitz bragging about what an evil piece of shit he was. He watched Resolve’s back the whole time this happened, praying she would be able to ignore it until they were done. He was also ready to stop her just in case.

But he wasn’t ready enough.

Before he knew it, Resolve's form was gone.

Blitz’s words were cut off by the sound of steel tearing through flesh, then a scream of anger and pain. That was accompanied by another scream. One of all-consuming rage and fury.

“I’ll fucking tear out your throat you piece of shit!”

And just like that, everything became chaotic.