With the day split into three for the watch shifts, we didn't get to share meals together or even really interact at the same time, except when we would meet to change shifts. Since this was the first day, I decided to let my shift overlap both of theirs. Simone appreciated the thought and then went to bed in the upstairs bedroom when her shift ended. I stayed up all night to watch the little screen by myself.
When morning came, Jelly came out to take over the watch and I stayed there with her for a while. She would give me the occasional probing glance as we sat next to each other. She never spoke, though. I grew tired after a few hours after staying up for so long and not absorbing external Presence, said goodnight to her, then went to bed in the downstairs bedroom. There were only two beds in the house, so we had to share, and I slept in the currently unoccupied one.
I couldn't take the chance to use Presence to stay aware of my surroundings either, especially while inside an Order house and near an Order building with who knew how many Presence users inside. I must have been unconscious for quite some time, because I woke when I felt someone climb into the bed with me. I didn't react, mainly because whoever it was didn't try to snuggle in or grab me or anything. I suspected that it was Jelly and she had just been relieved from her watch shift by Simone.
My shift wasn't going to start for another eight hours, so I stayed in bed and relaxed. Thankfully, I could still meditate and use mental techniques that didn't use Presence and I didn't have to worry about being discovered. I took full advantage of this extra time and used it to relax and went over in my head all of the programming knowledge I had gained from Luxea. I was actually suffering from the very thing that I had warned Simone about when she suggested absorbing someone's knowledge.
My mind had all these things in it that I wanted to program and it gave me the desire to construct things to utilize those programs, so I had a lot of mental rearranging to do to get all of those frivolous plans sorted out and categorized into 'immediately useful' and 'can wait until later' piles. I couldn't dismiss them completely, mainly because I knew that I could use the ideas eventually.
I chuckled mentally at that thought, because that was part of the problem I was having. I couldn't get rid of all the sprouting ideas that kept coming up within my stolen knowledge. I worked at it for several hours, then put myself to sleep until I needed to get up for the next shift. When I woke, Jelly was still on her side of the bed and deep asleep, so I eased out of the bed and slipped on my pants, then left the room as silently as I could without using my Stealth technique.
“Did you enjoy sleeping with her?” Simone asked when I came over to the living room.
“Is that you asking or Luxea's mental remnants?” I asked.
“I'm pretty sure it's all me this time.” Simone said.
I walked over to her and held a hand up in front of my chest with the palm towards her. “You don't have to be jealous.”
Simone raised her eyebrows and pressed her own palm against mine and she caught her breath as I gave her all of the mental gymnastics I had done while in the room and she also received the distinct impression that Jelly stayed on her side of the bed and hadn't moved or done anything at all to imply that she was going to cross that line.
“Hunter, I... I'm sorry, I...” Simone shook her head. “Why do I act so stupidly when it comes to you?”
“I'm a bad influence?” I asked and she chuckled.
“I wish you were.” Simone said and then caught her breath as she clearly sent me all of the naked and sexy things she could have done to me since we met, if she hadn't been co-opted by Luxea and her agenda. “Um... just... forget about seeing all of that.” She said and tried to take her hand back.
I turned my hand and grabbed hers before she could. “You're not the only one who can imagine things.”
I sent her clear images of all the things I would have done to her during the same amount of time. Tears came to her eyes, because it wasn't what she had expected at all. A candle-lit dinner, sitting by a roaring fire, riding in a hover car and holding hands, dancing at the now famous bar, and sneaky make out sessions everywhere they went together.
“H-Hunter.” Simone said and I wiped at her face.
“Yeah, that's what I had expected when you came aboard.” I said in a whisper. “Luxea made sure that didn't happen, though.”
“Goddess, she really messed everything up, didn't she?”
“A lot more than I can tell you right now.” I said and she took a shaky breath. She didn't try to use a mental probe to see what I meant, and I was happy that she didn't. “Yes, you'll find out soon enough.”
Simone nodded and I let her hand go. She gave me a longing look and walked up the stairs to go to bed. I sat down and went over the information that had collected on the datapad and the numbers were exactly what I had expected. There was only a few hours of activity, then nothing for nearly a full work day, then the same activity again. If this pattern continued, then we would have our way to get into the building without alerting anyone, besides the people we were planning to assault, that is.
Our appointment at the hospital was in a few days and I hoped that we completed the mission before then, because when the man saw me, he was definitely going to recognize me after what I did to him. I had planned on not visiting; but, there was no real way to avoid it without drawing attention to ourselves. Of course, depending on how this mission goes, we may need to make a hasty retreat.
I had a few hours to go before the scheduled activity in the building, so I combed through the data and picked out two likely targets for Simone and I to take out and replace. They always seemed to lag behind the others and split off to go in similar direction each time. We would need a slight distraction to get everyone's attention if it's necessary and I smiled as one came to mind.
Oh, that will definitely get someone's attention. I thought and marked the two people for Simone to tag when it was her next shift. With them digitally tagged, she could potentially track them back to where they lived and it won't be as difficult to take their place and go into the building. I finished my shift and Jelly came out of the downstairs bedroom still wearing her sleep clothes. She wore a very loose tank top and a pair of silk shorts that barely reached the top of her thighs. I tried not to stare as she sat down next to me.
“Can you... hit me with... a wake up boost?” Jelly asked with a yawn. “I haven't adjusted to... the local time yet.”
“It's only going to be a small one.” I said and touched her forehead. “We can't take the chance that I'll be detected before we launch our offensive.” I used a very small amount of Presence and slipped it into her head and drew her own Presence into her brain to wake her up.
Jelly sighed as her mind cleared up and she smiled at me. “Thank you.”
“I'm sorry it's not the flashy version with the huge rush.”
Jelly chuckled. “I think I like this one better.” She said and stood up. “I'm getting breakfast, so keep watch for me.”
I nodded and she went to the kitchen and prepped a ration tray. We didn't bring any supplements with us, so it was just basic nutritional requirements and tasted like it. Jelly didn't mind it, mainly because that was all they had during deployments anyway. She came back and sat beside me on the couch and picked at it. Her top slipped a little as she ate and I could clearly see her entire breast.
“Jelly.” I said and she looked at me with her fingers stuck in her mouth. “Your top slipped a little.”
Jelly looked down at her exposed breast and then back at me. “Yep.”
“You're going to give me the 'naked is okay in the military speech', aren't you?” I asked and she smiled.
“Most bases don't have the space to have separate showers, bathrooms, or even change rooms for all of the different sexes and species that enlist.” Jelly said. “You need to be comfortable with someone seeing you during those times.”
“Is this really one of those times?” I asked and she laughed.
“Hunter, we're on a mission to...” Jelly stopped before she said anything that hidden recorders might pick up, despite Simone assuring them that it was clear. “There's only two beds and one shower. We are going to see each other naked at least once while we're here.” She took in a sniff, then leaned in closer to me and sniffed again. “Actually, if my nose is right, you need a shower right now.”
I couldn't help but be impressed at her confident attitude, considering what she had been like when that guy had assaulted her. “I'm closing the bathroom door.” I said and stood.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“There's no lock.” Jelly said with a grin.
I chuckled as I shook my head and then I walked over to the stairs and went up them to the bathroom. I opened the door and both heard and saw the shower was already in use by Simone. I was surprised that there was no door or even a piece of glass around the shower stall. We locked eyes and stared at each other for a moment, then Simone smiled and held out the soap she had been using.
I immediately thought about Jelly's prediction and chuckled. “You're supposed to be in bed.” I said as I closed the door and then started to strip off.
“I tried staying up during your shift and then dozed off.” Simone said and didn't watch me as I undressed. “I woke up a few minutes ago and now I'm too wired to get back to sleep.” She said. “I may need you to knock me out later, just so I can get some sleep before I do have to be on shift.”
“I could make a joke about how I could knock you out...” I said and stepped into the shower stall. “This is a weird setup.”
“Not having a curtain to pull on and hide myself is what I miss the most.” Simone joked and passed me the soap. I laughed and took the soap, lathered my hands up, then washed the back of her body from the neck to the ankles. I handed her the soap back and turned around, then she did the same for me.
“HA HA!” Jelly laughed exaggeratedly as she swung the bathroom door open. “I told you the door had no...” She stopped talking when she saw Simone and I half-lathered up. “HEY! No fair!”
Both Simone and I burst out laughing and her indignation over not being the first to see me naked.
“I've seen him naked before.” Simone reminded her and handed me the soap back. “It is your first time seeing it, though.”
Jelly's eyes immediately dropped to my crotch and she was surprised that I didn't try to hide myself or pretend to lather it up and hide it that way. She noted that I wasn't excited and then looked back at my face.
“Someone did say that it was okay to be naked around others on a mission.” I said with a smile.
“You... are not in the military.” Jelly said.
“I was offered a commission, actually.” I said and she stared at me. “Do not suffer boot camp, do not sweat with the grunts.”
“You're kidding.” Jelly said. “You have to be kidding.”
“The admiral herself offered the position.” I said and started lathering up my front. “I think she just wanted me under her 'authority', to be honest.”
Simone laughed as she got the implication. “You are always getting in those kinds of situations!”
“I know.” I said and smiled. “Most times it's not even my fault.”
Simone rolled her eyes. “Hurry up and pass me the soap.”
“Don't you want me to wash you?” I asked.
“Shut up.” Simone said, because she really wanted me to, and grabbed the soap from me and lathered up herself. She handed it back and turned towards the shower head and started to rinse off. I finished lathering myself and then waited for her to finish, then we switched places. Simone had her hair frothy with shampoo by the time I was done and I helped her rinse it out without getting more soap onto her body. Two towels later, we were both out of the stall and dried off, and I put on a clean underwear.
“I'll see you both later.” I said and left the bathroom, then turned around and peered back in. “Simone, I marked a couple of people on the datapad. Can you mark them? I'm pretty sure they are going to fit our needs perfectly.”
“Consider it done.” Simone said.
I nodded and went downstairs to go to the bedroom and went to sleep for several hours. Unlike them, I could utilize the entire time effectively and continued to filter all of the programming ideas I had. Simone asked for my help and I put her to sleep as gently as I could and included a 'wake up' call as well. Just like jelly, she preferred the subtle version of my ability over my normal brute force one.
It took two more days to track the targets to where they lived, and it was the same apartment complex. Luckily, they didn't live together, nor did they have family living with them. No children and no spouses were evident, either. Simone and I went there while they were at 'work' in the building and set things up, then I left and went across the street to set up the distraction we were going to need to ambush the two people at the appropriate time. I had been saving this particular item for quite some time and never managed to get rid of it like I had planned all those years ago.
We waited until the targets were within range of our traps, then I set off my distraction. I took out the overloaded mana crystal that I had used to kill the lamia that had betrayed Allirynn, and tossed it into a large metallic cylinder, so that it would create the largest ringing sound possible. I ran as far as my non-Presence Run abilities could take me and then the mana crystal exploded.
Not only did it create the very loud metallic bang and ringing I had expected as all those crystal shards impacted the sides of the metal, the large cylinder acted like a cannon barrel and the majority of the shards shot up into the air like a flare and spread out and sprinkled over several buildings and the alley.
Needless to say, it worked spectacularly.
We easily subdued our targets while everyone else was distracted by the unintentionally spectacular visual display. As previously agreed, we took them inside their apartments and spent the night there. Unlike the other assassin, I couldn't use my Presence to blatantly mulch this man's brains. I had to do it subtly and it took almost an hour to do it. I had to leave the suicide charge in his head and only managed to disconnect the power source.
An hour before we were to head out, I stopped in the other apartment and pulled the power source of the woman's suicide charge as well. Just like the other assassin, it was anathema for them to be caught. Their deep desire came through, even unconscious like they were, so we made sure to secure them completely. We put on a clean set of their work suits and left to go to work. They usually walked and met up down the street, so we copied that motion and walked all the way to the target building.
Surprisingly, getting inside was easy. They had ID tags and that was all, so we scanned them in and stepped through the unlocked door. There were no guards or even a security station, so we had free reign over where we wanted to go. I followed Simone's lead on this, because she had a lot more experience doing things like this without the use of Presence.
We went to her office first and discovered that it was just a normal office, like it would be in any office building, even though these people were hired assassins. It made me wonder if they also handled it like a traditional business. Did they have regular clients that received discounts if they used more services? If an agent is lost, is there a penalty? How did they get new members?
These questions and more ran through my head as Simone used the terminal on the desk to look through the daily schedule. The computer was attached to a secured and stand alone system, which meant you needed to have direct access from a terminal and it couldn't be hacked externally. Thankfully, we had access codes, thanks to our two targets, and it let us into the system. Simone took in a sharp breath at the deluge of information she now had access to.
“Hunter, as soon as we start copying this, they are going to know.”
“Don't copy it from the system.” I said and handed her a video recorder. “Just access it all and have it scroll across the screen.”
“Even that... well, I guess they won't notice right away if all we do is look and don't actually copy the files.” Simone said and quickly set up a fake audit of the agents and the assets, then had the computer continuously display the information we needed. “Safe houses, agents and their secret identities, dummy businesses on The Order home planets...” She shook her head. “No wonder some people think this is a branch of The Order.”
“They do, too.” I reminded her. “If my guess is right, this building and every one listed there, are rigged with explosives to remove all evidence that they exist, if they are discovered... regardless of the people inside.”
“H-Hunter... you... are you really...”
“I can't go around and scramble everyone's brains, can I?” I asked. “I don't have the time to do them all personally, despite wanting to.”
Simone didn't say anything as we waited for the computer to finish. It took about two hours for us to get everything that we needed. Now we had a problem. We wanted to leave, now that we had what we came for. Unfortunately, we knew for a fact that no one ever left during the day, for any reason, and we would have to stay and waste time until everyone else was ready to leave the building as well.
This opened us up to a very dangerous situation, mainly because anyone could come to either her office or mine at any time and see that we were not the people that should be here. We also couldn't walk around, mainly for the same reason. Simone had the idea to look for a break room or a cafeteria, so she checked the computer and found several of them. We left the office and wasted the entire day moving from break room to break room and whispering to each other.
This established us as a pair and a few different people saw us in each area. Since we weren't in any office and yet looked like we were supposed to be there, no one questioned us or approached us. I didn't think it was odd, mainly because we were essentially copying the other people we had seen around and ran with it. As long as we remained confident and kept to ourselves, no one bothered us.
The day finally ended and we joined everyone as they left the building, like ants out of an ant hill, and we kept up the pretense as we followed our target's normal routine to go back to their homes. I spent several hours scrambling the woman's brain, now that I had the time to, then we left them in bed and walked away. We set up a call to the authorities to check on them later, that way we hadn't left them to die.
We made it back to the house where Jelly was on watch and she congratulated us on our successful mission. The next day, we managed to arrange a tour of the continental falls and spent several hours there on a little boat. Both Simone and Jelly enjoyed the experience of seeing a mile high waterfall and were in high spirits for the rest of the day. We had supper together that night and packed everything up, then went to bed.
The next day was the fateful appointment we had made at the hospital to see my assassin. Only I went this time, in case things went bad, and I was led into an observation room and not into the room with the patient, like I thought I would be.
“Do you recognize him?” A woman asked me and stared at me intently.
I didn't give her the satisfaction right away and stared at the man for several moments before I spoke. “Yes, I do.”
She nodded to the medical technician, who relaxed and took his hand away from the emergency button he had been prepared to push at a moment's notice.
“Who is he?” The woman asked.
I gave her his name and his wife and child's name, even though I suspected that they were fake.
“You aren't sure about the names?” The woman asked, pointedly.
“I only got the names in passing while I learned about where he worked.” I said, truthfully. “I can't say if they were real or something he made up to sound impressive.”
“He didn't mention what system he came from, did he?” She asked.
I shook my head. “I only know the business and a few names.” I said, then told her the business name before she could ask.
She caught her breath when I said it and I turned and looked at her. She had a slightly red face at giving herself away so easily.
“Could I invite you to lunch? I really would like to hear more about all of this.” I said. “It was quite the mystery when I met him.”
The woman thought about refusing, then she took in my fuzzy hair and my welcoming smile and decided that she could pump me for more information, too. In more ways than one, if given the chance.
“I'd like that.” She said and I gave her an award winning smile. She visibly shivered when I put a hand behind her back, then led her from the room. We had a lot more to talk about than I had first thought.