The darkness of the early morning was something Amirah have grown quite accustomed to. Looking over at Dray, she could see her husband staring through his set of night-vision binoculars, yawning occasionally. They were both perched on a rooftop nearby to Skelter's warehouse as revealed by the late Yuri's intel. Laying on their stomachs, looking at the heavily packed and active warehouse, it reminisced of a good old-fashioned stakeout. Amirah likened it to the movies Dray loved to watch. After another yawn from him, she reached over and shook him slightly.
"Hey? Why did you want to do this if you can't stay awake? You should be resting," she asked, not hiding the concern in her voice. Dray shook his head, brushing off her grip. "No. I think we should take a look at this first. Before you reveal anything to the Hero's Association today, I want to look at it...Maybe we could try and tackle it together instead." Amirah's eyes widened.
"Wha- Dray, are you insane? I understand everything before this but this is a whole warehouse of people. A lot of them could be superpowered considering Skelter's reputation. Not to mention they might have the weapon that completely counters me."
"Didn't stop you the last time you stormed a warehouse by yourself..."
Amirah blushed heavily.
"Wha- Hey- I...I know...I'm sorry," a now dejected Amirah replied with a heavy sigh. Dray panicked next to her. "I-I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No, you're right. But that's why I don't think this...let's take a closer look at the situation first before we come to a decision. We could probably take it ourselves." Amirah looked through her binoculars again to survey the scene at the warehouse. The place was crawling with henchmen that Amirah didn't recognize. Men and women in various random attire, with the common denominator being three knives on each of their sides and some sort of beige makeshift body armor. Usually, large villain groups would have some sort of brand recognition in order to grow their reputation. The longest surviving groups know how to do this without any loud costumes or emblems which seemed to be the case with Skelter. As far as Amirah was aware, the villain community was a surprisingly social one with trust and popularity being important factors to indicate success.
I should ask more about it from Dray. Being Technus for almost 8 years...he should know a lot of how things work.
The men and women were going around the usual duties someone working at a warehouse would be doing. Taking in inventory, hauling the goods around, storing them in their respective areas, and so on. Amirah took note of all these factors, constantly updating her mental map of the area should she need it.
Okay...quite a big warehouse so need to be careful. Windows are small so entry from them would be risky. Guards around the outside and the three surrounding buildings if this one is to be used as an example. Big rectangle shape...loading and unloading area with a max of 4 giant trucks with trailers and the rest is shelves of space. Guns, blades, tasers...several crates of ammunition and...those suitcases. There have to be at least several hundred of those harpoon things. Looking up there's a second-floor sort off on the side with a bunch of open offices and...
Something caught her eye. A small group of maybe four or five men was standing in one of the open offices. They were covered from head to toe in grey suit attire with a jet-black mask and white gloves. Omnipresence... In the center of all of them was a taller man. He was bruised, had an arm in a sling and half his face was wrapped in bandages but he was dressed in some plain clothes attire which Amirah immediately recognized.
"Dray, second floor. In the central office. It's the bodyguard."
"Yeah, I see him. He seems pretty okay after everything that happened."
"Yeah..."
The man was standing up in a mean and intimidating manner as a woman who was as tall as he seemed to be shouting and berating him. This woman had her own entourage with her, all dressed in makeshift military attire with cloth bandanas as masks and the same three knives at their hip. Amirah noted how their attire looked to be a random type of shirt and jeans with beige and somewhat bulky body armor that she had never seen in public before. 'It looks like he's being scolded...is the girl a high-ranking member of Skelter?"
"Looks like it...but the guy doesn't look very phased by anything going on."
The bodyguard then rolled his eyes and pulled out a phone. He dialed a number and spoke to the person on the other end for a short while before passing it to the woman. She turned around and tried to get a word out but always stopped short. Her shoulders slumped before she dejectedly passed the phone back to the man who put it to his ear for a few short moments before ending the call.
"Who do you think that could be? The leader of Skelter?" questioned Dray out loud.
"I...I don't know. Why would someone from Omnipresence have direct contact with Skelter's leader though? And why would they be on his side?"
Dray kept silent, unable to answer Amirah's questions. The woman quietly sat back down at a desk and pulled out a laptop, typing away at it as the man sat opposite of her, cracking a kink in his neck. A whole warehouse of unidentified powers with a guy whose powers are...somewhat known.
"Hey Dray, you spent more time with that guy than I did. What do you think his powers are? From me, it just looks like this guy has very tough skin and bones."
"I think you're right but...from what I can tell it seems activation based. Like, he can use it whenever he wants but it's not permanent. I mean hell, he took like a bunch of shots and a mini explosive to the head but didn't flinch but all of sudden when you came, he got flustered and the explosive burned the side of his head."
Amirah put her binoculars down and turned to face Dray.
"A bunch of shots and a mini-explosive? To the head?'
"Yeah. He came out of it fine but- ah." Dray put his binoculars down and sheepishly looked over to Amirah. "Dray, are you telling me you shot a man several times in the head and threw one of your fire bombs at him?"
"Hey, it was self-defense. He was trying to kill me so I had to take action. Besides it's not like it's gonna cause some big fuss if this dangerous man were to suddenly die." Dray shrugged his shoulders. Amirah pinched her eyebrows. "Dray- i get you were trying to defend yourself but several shots to the head? You can't just casually kill a man! If that was any other person they would be dead."
"Yes, and if I didn't try to kill him, maybe I would be dead too."
"Aren't you non-lethal? I thought you tried your best to...you know, not kill."
"I...I'm sorry to burst your bubble but that's out of necessity. If I killed people, the heat on me would be much more severe. Of course, the death of some innocent guy would weigh heavy on me too but..."
"Dray...have you killed innocents before?"
Dray turned and looked at Amirah in shock and anger.
"No! Who do you take me for? I'm just saying...look, you know how big-time villains sometimes 'disappear' instead of turning up dead? That probably means another villain killed them. I've done nothing like that. I haven't killed anyone. Besides, you still have my tracker right? If I killed someone, you would know."
In a huff, Dray turned back around to look into the warehouse again. Amirah stared at him for a while longer. There was no way of telling if Dray told the truth. Amirah felt hurt she even needed to debate it. Alas, she shook her head. If she was going to get him back, she had to have some faith in him. Basic humanity seemed like a good place to have faith.
"...Sorry. I-You know how it is. I'm still learning about you and...I know you're not the type to kill. I'm sorry." Amirah turned back around and looked through her binoculars again. She heard movement on her right before Dray's head lightly thumped against hers. "There, take that. Now we're even," replied Dray with a smile in his voice. The gesture probably hurt Amirah more than Dray realized with her latest injuries but she smiled nonetheless.
The two of them surveyed the area for a while longer before Amirah came to her decision. "This...this is looking like a HA case. I'm sorry Dray but the number of people? The weaponry, the armor these guys have, and with that guy here too? Going in there as just the two of us would be suicide," she explained. Dray sighed, clenching his binoculars tighter.
"Maybe...yeah. Hear me out for a second. Let's...let's go in there tonight."
"Did you not listen to a single word I said?"
"I heard what you said. I just...I need a bite of whatever information they have stored in there before the HA storm the place." It was Amirah's turn to sigh and shake her head. She stood up. "No, Dray. It's too dangerous." Dray put his binoculars down and stood up as well. "Mirah, I have a plan. See those Skelter guys? They don't have a standardized uniform. We can just knock out the goons in the other building, grab their armor and sneak in there."
"If they don't have a standardized uniform, all the more we shouldn't go in. Think about it, only these people know about this place. Even if there are a hundred of them, they are bound to recognize each other."
"Okay, then what about the Omnipresence guys? There are only so few of them there and they seem to have some sort of power here. If we dress up as them, we could just sneak in. We move quickly to the office, swipe anything that looks important, and quickly leave. In and out. No fuss." Amirah bit her lip. "How do you suppose we get the masks then? We can't just make one on short notice."
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"You guys at HA still have the masks in some evidence lockup right? Just borrow a couple for you to 'study' or something. Come on Mirah, please?" begged Dray as he held his hands together. Amirah crossed her arms. Urgh...I can't in good faith agree to it but I have been dragging him along this whole time...
An infiltration mission. I know how to do infiltration missions. I've done it a million times. But to disguise my way through? To put myself right in the thick of things and hope for the best? I don't have the skills or the powers. This is his domain if anything. I...I don't want to risk it.
Dray looked back up to Amirah. 'Okay, how about this Mirah? If we do this I promise that...I promise a proper date night. A really expensive one. No dirty money. Just a good, clean date night at your favorite buffet place, then we can go shopping for some new clothes or home gym equipment or...whatever you want. Please, Mirah? This haul could boost my organization up and I can help you better too."
Amirah bit her lip harder. Having that info through Dray's channels would be very helpful. And...I guess we haven't had a proper date night in a while. Uhm... As if knowing he hit the jackpot, Dray walked up to Amirah and gently put his hands to her waist. "I know we can do this. Think of how much further we can work together. How much higher you would go as Talon." Amirah looked into Dray's determined gaze and sighed heavily. She grabbed Dray's hands and playfully waved them around.
"Fine. You win. Firstly, we're going to share that information. Anything you get, I also get to find out about. Secondly, bring extra money for that date night. I am going to suck you dry."
"I hope so."
Amirah put her hand up like she was going to backhand the soul out of Dray but obviously stopped when he flinched. Dray laughed softly, hiding his teeth with one of his hands, his usual timid demeanor showing through just a little bit. Amirah pouted and started poking Dray's cheek.
"I don't think I like this new Dray. Go back to normal." Dray simply laughed harder, trying his best to block Amirah's attacks.
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The silence of the night was something Amirah appreciated as she walked up to the roof door. She leaned back on the adjacent wall before knocking on it in a specific pattern. 4 quick, pause, 2 quick, pause, 3 with breaks in between, and- The door opened before she could finish the code. "Dray, I wasn't done. What if it was someone else?" she chided as she walked through.
"Who else would do such a complicated knock? Nevermind. Did you manage to get the masks?"
"Oh, that's the first thing you ask huh? No, 'How was the meeting, Mirah? Are you in the clear? Are you feeling better now compared to this morning?' Hm?"
Amirah watched as Dray panicked for the second time that day.
"Y-you're right. How was the meeting? Your head especially? Did you manage to go through the day fine?"
"Haah...the meeting went...okay. I passed the laptop to them and they said they were going to look through it. We have to do this tonight otherwise the HA will be all over this place soon enough. I'll probably come in with my team. Another achievement will hopefully put me in a fast track..." Another promotion would make this worth...everything. She passed a black mask over to Dray while he passed a grey suit back to her. They changed into their disguises on the roof, moving hurriedly and without shame so as to save time.
...This is so awkward.
"Hey...you have a team? I only really see you alone. Sometimes you're with Banshee or Viper though."
Thank you.
"Well, usually I don't need a team to deal with you."
"...Ouch."
"...I never hit you too hard before right? I'm sorry if I did."
"Well, not until recently. But it's water under the bridge now. Did Beast cause you trouble?"
"Nah. I think I had a bad shoulder one time because of him but otherwise, I'm fine."
Their banter felt light in spite of the absurdity of their conversation. It feels nice to actually talk to him like normal again. At the same time, I can't help but think how long this whole arrangement will last. Are we really going to be able to continue living together from now on? What about a family? Aren't our goals conflicting? What if...What if the day comes and I'm ordered to focus on him? How do we get out of it?
Amirah shook her head roughly to banish her thoughts. They were for the future. In the present, she and her husband had a job to do. Once the two of them were done changing, they quietly took another look into the building. The black masks were congregated together on one end of the building but the central office was empty. As long as they went in and out quickly without getting spotted by the bodyguard or the female Skelter officer, they would be safe. The move and inventory of equipment seemed to still be taking place which worried Amirah due to the sheer quantity of items but she shoved those thoughts away.
The plan was as simple as can be. Head in and walk as if you belong there, copy or steal anything that looks important or could hold useful information, and back out. Of course, there was the risk that if they were successful, Skelter and Omnipresence would disappear from the site but Dray promised he had a plan so Amirah decided to trust him. Should they be spotted, Dray had brought along his Technus flashbangs and Amirah had her smoke grenades. Although if the last time she used them taught her anything, it was that she had to be extremely careful to pick them back up or destroy them.
The warehouse being as big as it is, they had two ways to enter. They could enter by the main entrance which was just a big double door with two guards at the front or through the loading and unloading area which was a huge area that had 4 or 5 trucks inside with a giant garage door that almost reached the ceiling of the two-story building. This loading and unloading area had a multitude of guards and workers roaming the area with two main ones on either side of the massive garage door. The outside of the warehouse was a big open carpark of sorts so the couple didn't have much cover. Thus, they simply had to be a little bit lucky.
Of course, Dray had a backpack of gadgets too.
Firstly, the two of them headed to ground level, hiding in the shade of the building they camped in. The warehouse was well lit with street lamps which meant once they made their move, they would be sitting ducks. Dray knelt on the ground and rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a tiny white drone, barely bigger than his palm. As a bonus, it was also virtually undetectable in bright light. He smiled up at his wife before setting the drone and flying it with some sort of touch screen tablet. It made a barely audible sound as it flew closer to the building.
"Dray. Dray they're going to see it."
"I know...let me do...this."
Dray flew the drone as close to the ground as he could before touching a button on the tablet. The drone suddenly starts playing sounds that were similar to a group of people talking or discussing something. The drone played this sound as it moved closer to the building. Soon enough, it caught the attention of the four main guards outside. They looked at each other and raised their weapons, moving toward the strange sound they heard. With this, Dray quickly slung his backpack over his shoulders while still controlling the drone and grabbed Amirah's hand and they jogged a wide perimeter around the parking lot. They quickly made their way to the far left face of the building. Dray slowly led the guards away from the entrance, stopping the drone once they had enough leeway. He pressed another button on the tablet which shut the program down and effectively killed the drone, leaving it motionless. It apparently fried the drone's circuits and memory card, making it untraceable back to Dray. Or, at least that's how Amirah understood it. She was never really good with this kind of tech.
While the guards were still distracted, Dray led the two of them into the truck area, careful to avoid any seeing eyes. Thankfully, the drone caused enough of a problem for the Skelter militia men to halt their work, distractedly craning their heads to look at the commotion. It gave them easy access to the building. They slipped in, past the crowd forming at the vehicle entrance, and lost themselves in the maze of shelving. Rows and rows of contraband, dangerous material, and dealers of death. Amirah felt a hard shiver down her spine as she clenched her fists.
This...this is Skelter? No, it's just one part of Skelter. I don't know how big but...they could have tens of these same warehouses around the country. This...this is bigger than anything I've never had to deal with. Thousands of lives, civilians, or heroes could all disappear with just the things in this warehouse. And yet here I am, risking everything for an expensive date night.
In her daze, she bumped into a Skelter employee, moving him back to the point of stumbling.
"Hey- Watch it!"
The employee looked them up and down and shot them a look of disgust. He scoffed.
"It's you pricks," he spat. Literally. A spray of saliva made Amirah flinch. She almost raised a hand in retaliation but Dray quickly held it back, clutching tightly to her wrist.
"We're just moving. You should check in on your men," Dray spoke. The Skelter man growled before shaking his head and walking off. "Mirah, you've got to keep your head in the game. Let me handle this stuff. I'm right here with you," Dray whispered.
"O-okay. Let's hurry this up. I'm too tense here-"
"Oi, what are you pissants doing here and harassing my men? Where's the rest of you?"
A loud commanding voice announced. A tall woman who wore a military cap with Skelter's makeshift armor walked up to them. A beige bandana contrasted the dark skin on her face as she glared at the two of them with fierce, angry eyes. She had a hand not at the three knives on her left side but instead a large bowie knife on her right. She looked down at the two of them and raised an eyebrow.
"Well? Tell me before I slit both your throats here."
Amirah could feel her heart pumping faster and faster in her chest. People were turning, their gazes trained on the two of them. They were called out. Caught. They had to run. Her smoke grenades were within hand's reach.
"We were told to meet our supervisor here. Back off before we let the boss know."
Amirah turned to Dray who now stood beside her. Despite the black mask, she could feel the confidence and arrogance radiating off of him. At that moment, all she could think about was how stupid he was acting.
Ah. We're dead.