Let’s play a game.

If I was a power source giving life to deadly lasers, where would I be?

Hidden in one of the innocent-looking rooms? Maybe?

In the heroes’ bedrooms? Maaaybe?

How about… beyond the deadly lasers, so that I couldn’t reach it without going through them? Well, that would probably be the most secure location to put it, and it would also really suck for me.

But at the same time… how the heck would the heroes get through? There had to be a way to turn it off without having to go through the lasers. If not the power source itself, then maybe at least a remote controller. And I was going to find it otherwise my name wasn’t Aster!

With newfound determination, I set off to search for anything shaped like a device that would turn on and off lasers. Whatever that looked like.

My first instinct was to search for hidden little alcoves, fake floors, and so on. No luck on that front. I was beginning to worry that Fissure slept with the remote controller under his pillow, as some crazy people did with guns.

That’s when I began checking an alcohol cabinet out of desperation and found a TV remote in there for some reason.

Wow, and I thought I was the only one who could misplace their TV remote like that. They might have appeared cool and responsible as heroes, but their private lives must have been pretty wild.

Shaking my head, I went to put the remote back in, when, of course, the remote somehow slipped in my hands and fell. I stifled my panicked scream as it hit the floor, landing on the buttons.

I whipped my head around at the TV… which didn’t turn on. It stayed all nice, and turned off, and not waking up the heroes.

Jeez, what a close call. Who ever said I was lucky? That could have been a disaster. Eh, maybe the fact that it didn’t turn into a disaster was how I got lucky? Maybe.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I carefully picked up the remote, and this time actually managed to return it to its rightful place. Magnificent, I was learning at an extreme pace. I truly was a genius.

After the obligatory sarcastic self-deprecating remarks, I headed out of the living room to search the other rooms.

On my way there, I passed the laser-filled corridor, which --

I whipped my head around at the corridor, which, in reality, had this distinct lack of lasers all of a sudden.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I immediately panicked, thinking the heroes woke up and turned it off, but after a few seconds of dead silence and nobody turning the corner to kick my butt, I relaxed.

Now, the only question was… what the heck turned the lasers off if not the heroes?

…

Oh…

Oh, no freaking way! Was that remote a dummy?! Was it actually for controlling the lasers instead of the TV?! Was that why it was hidden in the alcohol cabinet?!

I slumped against the wall and let out a deep sigh.

Alright, alright. I was ridiculously lucky. You can shut up now, imaginary Troy.

With the lasers gone, and the imaginary Troy done with his ridicule, I headed down the formerly impassable corridor.

It didn’t take long before I arrived at some stairs going underground. Of course, what super base would this be if it didn’t have an underground section?

Unfortunately, it would also be a pretty crappy super base if it didn’t have retinal scans, hand scanners, or voice recognition locks. By which I meant, this wasn’t a crappy base, so it did have those, right next to the very secret-basey looking door at the bottom of the stairwell.

Welp, no way my ridiculous luck was getting me through these, right? After all, my eyes and hands were distinctly different from the two heroes’.

What to do…

A minute of mulling later, I activated my communicator and relayed my situation to Fractal.

“Hmm, that’s a problem. I’m willing to bet that’s exactly where his lab, and by proxy the stone we are looking for, is.”

We discussed our options for a bit, while I aimlessly walked around in front of the door.

It wasn’t looking good. After I’d done such a good job being a silent ninja, our only real option seemed to be breaking in using force.

With a sigh, I leaned on the door -- also known as anti-ninja bigot -- and waited for my boss to come up with a new plan.

Or… at least that’s what I meant to do. Thwarting my expectations though, the door moved under my weight and opened without even making any noise.

I fell on my butt, not expecting it. Looking back at the door dumbfounded, I wondered whether I should be happy or suspicious about this development.

Was it something I’d done? Did the heroes leave the door open on accident? Were all the security measures around just a ruse and it was a normal door all along?

I sighed, giving up on figuring it out and relayed what happened to Fractal.

“That… huh, as expected of you.”

Wait, what did he mean? As expected of me to be dumb enough not to simply try opening the door at first? Or as expected of my dumb luck to somehow get me through a high-security door?

Oh, whatever!

Let’s just get that stone and get out of here.

I marched through the door and into a very messy place, which could only barely be called a room. Wow, compared to Fractal, Fissure was like a college student. Except instead of random heaps of clothes lying around, it was random heaps of metal and machines thrown around the room.

It took me a good minute to finally find what I was looking for. Encased in a glass tube like a proper unknown material of great power, the stone sat there, right between what looked like a scrapped powersuit and a cute inactive robot that would probably get Fissure sued for copyright infringement if he was ever seen with it in public.

“Target spotted,” I relayed through the communicator.

But just as I was about to grab the loot, someone else arrived on the scene.

The air next to me filled with opaque black smoke and once it dissipated, a figure clad in black like an actual ninja stood there, scanning their surroundings.

“Oh, what?” the newcomer exclaimed when spotting me. A second later, a sword was in his hand, and he fell into a battle stance, ready to pounce at me.

I panicked and yelled, “S-stop!” which, of course, the voice modulator turned into a commanding and confident “Stop.”

The mercenary, Shadeskip, did as I asked and stopped in his tracks, unsure of what to do.

Well…

I wasn’t prepared to fight a teleporter today.