"We're all sick in our ways."
Despite Agoti's innocence, the squad leader was still pissed and was rough with him. Had it not been from all the other events he would have had Agoti in an interrogation room.
He hadn't thrown him to the ground yet but had been forcing Agoti to move, acting like a slave driver. The leader purposely went faster, just so he could tug Agoti along, pretending to get annoyed that Agoti was going slow. They had even put him in cuffs, an action completely unnecessary.
It barely hurt Agoti so he didn't say anything. He just kept his mischievous grin upright, knowing full well this guard was screwed anyways. His expression only changed when he stepped out in the lobby. Standing among the managers was...Solazar?
"You can release him now." Sol commanded the leader. The leader had briefly considered demanding who this ‘blue-guy' commanding him but the managers standing amongst him told him what he needed to know.
Free now, Agoti walked up to Sol.
"Dad?" He asked surprised.
"You put on quite a show out there today. Dare I say, one of your best performances." He gave a small clap.
"You watched?"
"Of course I did. Spoke to your friend, that representative. I couldn't have missed it for the world. I am very proud of you."
You, Displo and Tabi entered, drawing attention there. You were practically carrying Tabi holding one of his arms up as he walked. His jacket and face were stained.
"What the..? Y-you." Tabi was taken aback by Sol's presence. He growled, though not voluntarily.
"And you. You did quite a good job today." Sol said, nodding at him.
Tabi was starting to crash from all the sugar he ate, his mind unable to process that Sol had seen it all. He just muttered "Thanks." He felt like throwing up. Having not eaten anything for hours and breaking the fast by overdosing on sugar had sent his body into shock.
The operation had come to a close. Displo assembled the group plus Solazar for a makeshift huddle. He explained that the important parts were done and that he'd handle the fallout. He continued, explaining that everyone would have to be interviewed about what they saw, how they proceeded, etcetera. He asked everyone to stick around and said that the money would be wired later today.
He also asked S to delete all that he stole, something S had no problem doing. "It's all boring numbers stuff anyways."
"Take a hour break as I set up everything then come back. We need to interview everyone, make sure managements know how we got in, what we stole, etc. I don't think we'll need a meeting tonight." Displo concluded.
You add that there will be a meeting tomorrow to discuss what was learned.
With that everyone split up, waiting on the interviews. Tabi, now sick from his donut overdose was sitting with you on one of the lounge couches, trying not to throw up. You'd decided to stay with him, keep him company. He was just hunched over, hand on his mouth staring at the floor tiles.
He didn't say anything but he was really feeling the smoking withdrawal. He hadn't touched the stuff in days, deciding that between staying in shape he needed to save money.
You thought of offering to take him for dinner but food seemed to be the last thing on his mind. Maybe later.
You weren't sure where the others had got off to.
Displo had given you a 'results' page about the event which you were reading over. While sitting next to Tabi you read the report.
Operation Blindside
Participants
(Y/N), codenamed: Anon - escaped
S - escaped
Kapi, codenamed: Narancia - caught
Agoti, codenamed: Distraction - caught
Tabi, codenamed: Joseph - escaped
Displo - escaped*
*Operation was ended before this could occur. Likely would have succeeded either way.
Breaches and Thefts
- IRIS main network compromised.
- Documents relating to various classified projects stolen out of the Inner Sanctum.
- Threat actor was able to obtain documents through RF transmission from ‘Narancia's’ cellular device. Device should have been confiscated following capture.
- Backdoor established through HR department, giving read-only access to most employee personal information. IDS failed at detecting intrusion.
- Surveillance system was compromised, extremely possible (Y/N) could have caused serious damage to it.
- (Y/N) should not have been given access without key card, should not have been given access to the room, should not have been left unattended, should not have been allowed to sign in without a signature or ID or any sort.
You smirk at that part. They really screwed up there. Continuing on...
- Building teams A and B were successful in apprehending 'distraction'.
- Employees were vigilant about "Joseph" entering the HR department. Should have been more vigilant. One employee minor injured after taking a door to the face. Employees did not check suspect for identification and failed to do any calendar auditing to ensure suspect actually had an appointment.
- IT completely failed in detecting a breach.
- Incident response team did not activate soon enough, did not act immediately upon detecting intrusion. Palo Alto's IDS/IPS systems failed. SLA violated.
- Sanctum scientist, Elexa awarded for being the most vigilant, capturing 'Narancia' before he could do any damage.
A comment was scribbled next to it. 'Good going guys. That biologist managed to upstate the ENTIRE SECURITY TEAM. DAMMIT WHY HAS NO ONE IMPLEMENTED THE SECURTY GATES YET!'. You continue reading.
- Responsibility of the Sanctum network deferred to Sanctum team, not scientists. Failed.
- Security forgot about a potential incident in HR department, preferring to send all forces to deal with the distraction instead.
- Anon was not properly vetted upon entering the back rooms.
Success Rate: 65/100. Following through with distraction capture, teams might have been able to get him to give up other members. Unlikely scenario because of how fast the team was able to escape. Police might have had to been called.
Admin Comments: Considering this was this team’s first outing it's not good. Not the worst outcome we could have had but definitely showed weakness in our systems. Will do some serious re-organizing to prevent a serious attack. A lot of our own rules were proven faulty.
We will need to schedule a meeting posthaste following...
Putting the paper down you reflect on what was needed for the finale.
The main takeaways you note down were that you needed a better plan, a proper getaway driver, a control point hideout, someone to do better recon, have a proper floor plan and a possible demolitionist or someone to get rid of the tapes. You also noted that during the real heist you could cause as much damage as possible, a perk you were not allowed this time. You didn't think the people at the compound would fall for the 'I'm new here trick'.
You and Tabi weren't alone in the lobby. Plenty of the workers were still going about their day. Nearby the managers in deep discussion with various security guards and other personal. One of them was freaking out how "nobody noticed the Sonic virus going around the network."
Looking at your phone, S was gone. You weren't sure where he went, other than to deal with some personal things. You were starting to get used to him just outright vanishing. You were just glad he was still on your side. It looked otherwise for a quick second.
The resulting break-in had only energized him. It was like he was blood lusted. He said he was ready to go another round and you had to calm him down from destroying IRIS' own network. And then, just as his bloodlust was growing he said he had news to go watch about Mobius.
The police had shown up as well. Apparently after Tabi’s doorslam, some employees had called them up. According to the report this in itself was a violation as security was only authorized to call them. You shrug it off, the concept of that not making much sense. Either way apparently someone was in trouble for wasting police time. Even though they were told the situation was resolved they came in anyways.
You were recognized instantly, a few cops asking how it was going. You just told them you were in charge of doing security tests now. One asked if you had received the Easter gift they organized. You had no idea what they were talking about.
When one commented on Tabi's appearance you merely told them to piss off. Bringing their attention back to you they started to ask what you were even doing here. You didn't really want to talk at first but explaining that your job was to break in to companies made them jealous. It felt good to gloat at them.
Tabi merely glared at them the whole time, not saying a single word. He even flipped them off once their backs were turned. Realizing their appearance here was a waste of time and useless they left without saying goodbye.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"You feeling better?" You ask Tabi. He was on his phone now, the sugar crash having passed. He was still hunched over. A few paper cups were on the short table in front, Tabi having downed several cups of water, as was the small water puddle on the ground under him.
"Yeah. Those guys, your friends?"
"Pfft, not anymore. Screw 'em."
Tabi had even cleaned up his face, getting rid of the stains. He did so in full sight, spilling some water on the ground. His jacket was still stained though, however the stains were the least of his concerns. The hoodie itself was in rough shape.
"So, those donuts. What did you call them?"
"Packzi's."
"What are they?"
"They're a polish donut. They make them to celebrate ash Wednesday."
"You brought them in?"
Tabi shook his head. "They were having some going away thing. I was hungry. Here. You wanna try one?" Tabi reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag. There were a few of the powdered sugar covered donuts. Some were a bit squished, a chocolate filling oozing out of one and jam out of another. They had seen better days.
"You just took them?"
He shrugged. "You said our mission was to steal. Do you want one or not?"
"Can't argue with that. Sure. Lemme try one."
He opens the bag and hands you one of the donuts. It was sticky to the touch, the powdered-sugar probably having been warmed by his body-heat.
He was still wearing his finger-less gloves, no doubt to hide his boney-palm. The sugar made an imprint on them.
You bite into it, chocolate filling stains around your mouth. It was sickly sweet, but not that bad. It was too much sweetness for you. Would've preferred one of the jam-filled ones but you weren't going to complain. You finish it quickly, wiping the stains on your uniform sleeve.
It would have been nice to have a glass of milk nearby.
"Not bad. Bit sweet though."
"Reminds me of back in Europe."
"Ah. So you're polish?"
"Russian. I have family there though." Tabi put the bag away. While he loved them, he didn't want to eat anymore. Better to save them for later.
You sit up slightly. "So what did you think of the operation?" Tabi asks.
"We could have done better. Think I could've thrown them off Agoti better. I was expecting it to be harder, threw me off." You say.
"I don't think sending in Kapi was a good idea."
You were in agreement, though you weren't sure what he could have done if not for that. "Yeah, pretty much. He was supposed to be our hacker originally. We just gotta find a better role for him. At least S did a good job."
You noticed Tabi had gotten slightly closer. Someone was staring and it was getting on his nerves. He was blaring in some other direction. You look. It was just some random employee. Seeing the both of you looking they just turned and walked away, bumping into Displo and falling over.
"How much longer do we have to be here?" Tabi asked, annoyed. Much to his chagrin you had encouraged him to keep his hood down. Everyone could see what he looked like. He didn't like it but you claimed it would better than looking suspicious. He at least kept his hat on, giving some semblance of anonymity.
"Not much, I'm sure....hey, if you're free tonight, you wanna go for dinner? Just you and me."
Tabi looks away. "Thanks, but I'm a little short on cash right now."
"I'll pay. My treat."
"You sure? I don't want to be-"
"It's no worries man. We'll go to Displo’s. We get a discount anyways." You add.
He looks back to you, eyes looking as if he was studying you. Despite that in his eye sockets were two lights they still could give off expressions.
"A-alright. I'll, uh, eat light though. I'm still pretty full from the paczskis."
While you had originally though Tabi to just be a man of few words talking with him you'd noticed he was more guarded than anything. He just feigned it with grumpiness and that whole "strong, silent type" persona. You wondered why you were even analyzing him so. You'd never done that with anyone back at the station.
Something about him had you interested in who he was. You just looked back at him, trying to read him.
"Tabi, (Y/N). Do you have a minute?" Displo asked, snapping the both of you out of your 'moment'.
"Yeah, what's up?" You ask Displo.
"I-uh. Excuse me. I'll be back. I'm going to the washroom, clean-up." Tabi got up suddenly and left.
Displo went around the table and took a seat across from you, putting one leg over the other. "I've been looking over the stats about the mission, comparing it to our endgame plan."
"Okay."
"If it's not obvious we are going to need a lot more people. I am still trying to find out who built the compound but I was looking at the photos our friends took. I was thinking that when we do this need to cover all our of bases."
"Sure."
"And there is an attack vector we are currently missing, badly. Without this covered we are effectively 'screwed'."
"Okay...?" You weren't sure what he was getting at.
"Well, you see. I was inspired by how S was able to penetrate the network zones and escape. And well, there was also during our cloud-friends little-invasion..." Displo trailed off, clear he was beating around the bush.
"You're losing me."
He put his hand on the bottom of his TV head, stroking it as if he had a beard.
"As much I don't personally like it I think we will need a magic user."
"A magic user? Huh."
Magic.
A whole parallel system to technology. You weren't a magic user and had barely touched the stuff yourself. You recall briefly messing around with it but never got serious about it. Crime took precedence.
There were constant 'magic vs. tech' debates back in school but you never cared much for them.
There was a whole process to it you knew nothing about. You recall a few cops on the force using it in place of traditional weaponry but you rarely, if ever interacted with them. You knew of card tricks but no idea if that counted as real 'magic'.
"I take it you are familiar with the concept."
"Yeah, never used it though."
"For shame. Alas, it is an area of expertise I am unfamiliar with. Even here, we tend not to use the system. Perhaps Tabi or the others will know."
"What about Updike?"
Displo shook his head. "That is impossible. While we share common enemies, his disdain for us is immeasurable. And judging by what I know they don't like magic per se."
"What exact-"
"I'm afraid that's classified. And please, do not mention him in this building. It is, shall we say, a cursed word to utter here."
"Alright. Just note it down. We'll discuss it at the next meeting."
"Very well." Displo stared up before remembering something. "Oh, Kapi wished to speak with you privately. I do not know where he has run off to though. Last I saw he was speaking with that scientist that caught him."
"I'll try to find him later."
The rest of the day went smoothly. They eventually got to interviewing you. One of the guards cried foul that a former cop was used to get in and that it wasn't fair and 'broke the common trust between officers'. You merely scoffed at the idea, trying not to bring up what you had been through two weeks ago. Displo also gave you a sideways glance when they claimed that.
He silently agreed.
Tabi had returned shortly thereafter, claiming he needed to wash his face and vest. With Displo informed, you agreed to meet Tabi later that night. You weren't able to find Kapi after all was said and done. Apparently after concluding his interview he went to the arcade with that scientist, apparently forgetting whatever he wanted to talk with you about.
hours later, and now sitting at the same booth you had saved for Tabi weeks prior; you and he were at dinner. You were starting to develop an affinity for him, figuring he could use the break.
There was no meeting tonight, the next one having been scheduled for tomorrow night. Displo was still around but it was a quiet service.
The managers had intended as a group to hang out but when the IRIS president caught wind of the break-in he was furious, and made them all stay overtime to fix the security holes.
In the fallout not many customers were present. In the private areas, Displo had taken it upon himself to act as the waiter, though he understood this wasn't a business meeting. It was just a dinner between friends.
Displo had already come by and brought some fresh bread with a small bowl of garlic-infused butter. The bread was still steaming, having been freshly prepared. Tabi had barely touched the stuff, you having had a few pieces already. He was looking aimlessly, occasionally glancing at his empty plate.
It was then that your hypothesis began to form. Between gorging the donuts, him hiding his eating the other day and his occasional stomach growling during meetings you had a question.
You also knew that he being a musician possibly came with issues. And surely you weren't the only one thinking it. Better to ask it now instead of someone else blurting it out in front of the group. The question was eating at you too, so you just come out and say it.
"Do you have an eating disorder?"
"A vhat?" He said, looking surprised as ever. His glowing eyes widened in shock and he blinked a few times. His accent even creeped in, moreso than usual.
"Like issues eating. Psychologi-"
"W-why would you think that? I just look like this. I don't have any-" Tabi started to get upset. It was clear he wasn't hiding anything here. You but in with the 'proof'.
"Well, it's just last time we had dinner you hid, your stomach's always growling. Oh, and you gorged on the donuts today, said your gonna skip appetizers. You haven't touched the bread either."
As if a realization had hit him he slouched back, his eyes dimming slightly. "I...oh. I see." He understood. He let out a sigh.
"You promise not to tell anyone?"
"You got my word."
"I don't have a lot of money. I eat sparingly." He said quietly.
"Yeah, but the bread's free. And so was the other night’s meal." It didn't add up. Your inner-detective was starting to put together the pieces.
"Humph. Can't put anything past you cops." He mumbled, looking away.
"It's alright man. I won't tell anyone."
"It's just...urgh." It was clear he was getting uncomfortable with the conversation. If he didn't want to discuss you weren't going to force him.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."
Take a deep breath he looked at you again. While his eyes always shown some form of determination or anger, or guard he looked sad. They flickered ever so slightly like wind blowing through a candle.
"You see the way I am. A freak."
"C'mon don't say that."
"No. I. Damn. I'm still a regular person. It's just. When I eat...argh. Just look." He was struggling to put it into words. The sadness was turning to embarrassment. It looked as if he cheeks were burning up.
He ripped a piece of bread and ate it, swallowing quickly. With his hand he traced it going down his throat, moving his hoodie and shirt collar out of the way.
Through his semi-invisible throat you could see the food go down, disappearing somewhere below his shirt.
You weren't sure what the deal was.
Meanwhile, his eyes were flickering more wildly. He had quickly covered himself back up, even putting his hat back on. It looked as if he wasn't going to run off at any moment. Like he revealed some dark secret. He looked off to the side, not wanting to make eye contact.
You notice him briefly look at you from the side then glance away quickly.
"That's it?" You say, unsure what you were supposed to be looking at.
"It doesn't weird you out?" He said quietly.
"No. C'mon man. Sure you aren't normal but you're still cool. I doubt anyone’s noticed either and I’m sure if they do, they don't care." You were surprised that it seemed to be such a big deal.
You continue.
"Look. Nobody on the team is normal. Hell, even I got my own problems. We're all sick in our own ways."
"I-"
"Bro you look cool! What with the whole goat visage. You look badass!" You blurt out, getting a little fed up of the self-pity.
Tabi slowly turned back to you and removed his hat. He looked at you, yellow eyes staring directly at you. They flashed white briefly. In almost a whisper he asked.
"Y-you really don't think I'm a freak do you?"
Carefully you reach for his gloved hand. You touch it loosely.
"No. Never have. I've said it before. You're one of the coolest guys I've met. We never had anyone like you on the force."
"T-thank you, (Y/N)." He said, quietly and placed his hat back on the rack. His voice was trembling ever so slightly.
The sound of footsteps interrupted Tabi's thoughts and he pulled back.
Displo walked by, holding a tray. "Your drinks. How are you finding the evening?" He had dropped most sense of camaraderie and was acting much more formal now. He was in his zone and not acting as a member of the crew.
"Good." You say.
"Yes." Tabi said, still quiet.
"You both ready to order?"
Tabi goes first after glancing at you. You swore he smiled but wasn't sure. "I'm gonna start with an appetizer actually." He said, a little more cheerful.
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The next chapter will be called Doughnuts.