The deadline came sooner than he would have liked, but had also been further away than he could wait for without getting antsy. Contradictory as it may have been, there would be no more delay.

It was time.

Standing on the ledge of a rooftop, overlooking the district skyline, Finn heard the verbal confirmation from Lyra over their comms.

“I’m in position.”

Her voice was underlined with a hint of nervousness, though that was to be expected. After all, they were doing something big.

“All clear on my end,” Jack said. “Shade, now is our chance.”

Finn didn’t respond, knowing Jack could see him move, while Lyra would be able to hear him from where she stood.

If he did speak up, however, he would’ve sounded different. Over the past few weeks, he had been acquiring some items from the Aegis store that would help with both this particular mission and their fight against greater threats. That included a voice changer. Lyra didn’t need one for obvious reasons, but for him it was. Better to make himself as unrecognizable as possible, just in case.

In the same vein, he had also covered his eyes, for the first time ever. Previously, he had been using his powers to black out his eyes. Now, he had a visor fitted over his head covering. Its features included an HUD, a map, a health monitor, and a camera. That last one was especially important, since it meant Finn no longer had to hook up that action camera to his suit and cover it up with his power just so Jack could see what he was doing.

Of course, the visors had not come with such software, given the price they’d bought them for. Instead, Gridlock had reprogrammed them himself.

Visors, plural. Lyra also had one, though hers was modified slightly so it would fit under her mask. She seemed oddly attached to keeping it for some reason.

In any case, his costume now looked different than it had over a month ago. For instance, in addition to the visor, it had also been layered with anti-thermal detection. They weren’t sure what to expect, so they figured it was best to make him as hard to detect as possible.

This thermal regulation system also synergized with his adhesive gloves and boots, and with a slight modification, they were able to integrate the two. He was now able to hold onto objects far hotter or colder than he would otherwise. Not to mention his electro modulator glove’s effect could now be channeled through his staff even if he held it with both hands.

His upgraded footwear tempted him to go running off the building, but he was on a stealth mission, so he had to be quiet, and remain unseen.

As a result of many hours spent tirelessly practicing with his abilities, Finn had a handle on maintaining camouflage while in motion, both on himself and other objects. Namely his grappling hook.

Remaining nigh undetectable, he slowly abseiled down to a side alley. Once his feet touched pavement, his cables reeled back and he began skulking to the warehouse.

Soon, the sound of his footsteps disappeared, courtesy of Calliope’s power. She was standing on a nearby rooftop, ready to back him up if things went sideways, but still close enough to maintain her dome of silence around him.

When he reached the front of the warehouse, he was not surprised to see the front entrance guarded by two men with assault rifles. There was no jovial sense of banter between them, or any conversation at all for that matter, like with the Beastlords. These men were professionals.

Not professional enough to be safe from Finn, however.

In the weeks they spent making the plan, he had deliberated how to go about reliably neutralizing thugs that stood in his way. Electric shocks were not going to knock someone out for an extended period of time, at least not at the levels at which he could guarantee the survival of his target.

That brought his mind back around to the option of the wrist-mounted ranged weapons he’d come across a few times in the Aegis store. They had different configurations for it at various prices, and the one he needed happened to be quite affordable.

Atop his right wrist, a small shooter device had been fastened. And on his leg, he had a detachable case of tranquilizer darts. He loaded some up into his shooter and took aim. For weeks, he had been practicing to hit targets from a distance. Despite that, he had no confidence that he would be able to make the shot from so far away.

Which was why he simply walked up to the unwitting man until he was a step behind him, then loosed a shot right into his neck. The thug grabbed at the dart and spun around, but he found nothing there. Immediately after, Finn kicked the rifle out of the man’s grip.

The other guard next to him noticed the silent distress of his colleague and scouted for the unknown threat, only to get hit with a dart in the neck himself. They both fell down, disarmed.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Finn dragged the bodies away from the giant metal door that had to be accessed remotely. That second part was totally within Gridlock’s capabilities after weeks of studying the ins and outs of their security system.

Of course, that did mean this would alert the gang members inside, but they were already expecting the door to open, because the person behind the surveillance system was currently looking at footage of a truck pulling up outside. That meant Jack didn’t even have to open the door himself, as the guard in charge already did it on his own.

The window between the initial confusion and the realization that nothing was coming through would be short, so Finn had to be quick. And he was, wasting no time moving up the walls toward the surveillance room up the stairs.

Since the mission request had included the layout of this place, he knew exactly where to go without having to search. The man on the chair pulled his gun when the door opened to seemingly nothing, then slumped in his seat. Loading a third dart into his shooter, Finn quickly got into position for the next enemy.

The next guy was out of sight of the rest, making him an easy target. He went down with a shock and a dart. Running towards his next target, he looked down at his camouflaged wrist and had to admit the investment had been worth it, even though the ammunition was finite.

But on the way to his fifth target, the smooth sailing was apparently done. The bodies outside were discovered and the thugs shouted in alarm. Fully alert, they gathered and huddled closer together in groups, all falling into formation and pointing their guns this way and that. As they did so, they moved toward the back of the warehouse. To their objective.

On the one hand, it was smart to try and protect the most important thing in the building. On the other hand, that defensive strategy would also give away its general location among this sea of crates. It was fortunate, since Jack had found out that they moved the mysterious box every so often, so it would have been a gamble if they tried to search for it themselves.

It was also exactly what they’d planned.

Right as Finn got close, though, one of the thugs in front of him threw a smoke bomb. The smoke spread quickly, and he knew he’d been spotted before he could adjust his camouflage. He dove to the side to dodge the incoming bullets.

“Fucker’s invisible!” one of them cried.

Finn shot his grappling hook at the speaker and yanked him back, then let go midway so the lingering momentum would slam the thug into the wall. He collided with a pained grunt. And slid down.

In the next moment, Finn shot his hook at the ceiling and exited the smoke cloud. He aimed at the men beyond the cloud and dropped one of his homemade flashbangs at them. Almost mechanically, he dropped down into the chaos and dealt with them one by one.

A few guys came out of the smoke cloud sticking close to each other. The one in the middle shot a flamethrower in random directions, presumably to keep the invisible opponent from approaching. Another guy put some strange device on the ground and read something on it. Then he pointed straight at Finn.

Dodging another round of bullets, Finn used his grappling hook to swing around and pick off the members of the group one at a time. He only came halfway though, because the thugs started swarming him.

Stretching out a hand, he focused his power on the flamethrower and blackened the fire into nothingness. Unintentionally, the black also spread over the weapon itself. Finn blinked at that but didn’t have time to deliberate and moved on.

Every so often, one of the groups would try to track him, only to get bowled over by a shock wave. That was where Lyra came in. Since he’d been detected, it was better for her to join the fray and help him finish the job faster before reinforcements arrived.

Though that only left Jack’s drones in the air to serve as warning. With that in mind, they beat the thugs in short order and went to get what they came for.

“Shit, Havoc’s on his way,” Jack informed them. “Take a right turn out of the entrance.”

Finn extracted the wooden box from a crate near the back. The thing looked a lot smaller in real life, but he had no time to wonder about the measurements of their loot.

He did as instructed once he was out of the warehouse, Lyra right behind him. They didn’t see anything out in the night air, but they wasted no time making themselves scarce. Mission accomplished, no reason to stick around a second longer than necessary.

To his dismay, he saw they wouldn’t be making a clean escape today.

A green disc of pure energy came rushing toward him at breakneck speed, and he abruptly had to change course to avoid getting bisected. It sailed past him and got lodged in a wall ahead. He got as far away from it as possible, knowing the follow-up would be devastating.

True to his name, Havoc’s power was among the most destructive out of the Venin lieutenants. In fact, this menace sported the highest rate of collateral damage out of any active villain in the district. With his ability to shatter energy discs and detonate the fragments, he could create chain explosions powerful enough to collapse entire buildings.

The structure behind them, some sort of factory, shared the same fate. Another disc collided with the first one and the shards of energy blew up. Overhead, the sky filled with debris, and the ground shook violently just as he landed, threatening to throw him off balance.

Focusing his power, Finn righted himself and whitened the rising smoke cloud. The next energy disc sailed through just the same, but Finn made that completely white too, just in case it had some disruptive effect. It didn’t. Neither did black.

Back to square one, he tried to put more distance between them, since Havoc didn’t have much of an issue aiming from way behind them.

Glowing green heralded the arrival of the next attack through the smoke. They distanced themselves from the first disc again, but the new one curved around it.

Straight at Lyra.

“Cal!” Gridlock shouted.

Lyra got her sonic shield up in time, deflecting the disc slightly, yet not managing to stop it from breaking through. It caught her across the stomach and through her side, so fast that it looked like the bladed edge met no resistance flying out behind her.

She lost her grip on the gadget, a spray of blood trailing after her as she fell, unconscious.