[ARAN]
While waiting for Elio to get back, I decided to tie up the arms and legs of the unconscious men that were laying around the destroyed warehouse.
Even if everything was destroyed, there were still some ropes inside some of the crates, so I used those.
And I knew Mr. Isaac definitely beat them to the point where they couldn't move even if they wanted to, but it's not bad to reduce the chances of more risks, right?
Better safe than sorry.
After tying up the last man, I dusted my hands off before getting inside the truck to sit and get lost in thought as I tried to pass the time.
Most of the thoughts that ran through my mind were filled with worry about the things that will happen later. I was sure that we mostly likely would have to fight a lot of people, but I didn't know the full scope yet.
That's something I have to find out for myself.
Well, having Mr. Isaac on our side is definitely comforting. I was honestly surprised when he told us he was a high ranking Distortion Diver.
The man definitely has experience, but not just that. His perk's ability is strong too! Being able to control gravity like that is an insane power!
I thought to myself as i reclined the truck's seat to relax for a bit.
Speaking of perks...
Mine is kind of strange, isn't it?
I mean, there's a lot of perks out there that are hard to control, but it seems like my perk is only triggered when a condition is met. With said condition being my death.
I thought to myself before feeling my arm twitch slightly. Curious, I looked at my hand that was placed on top of my chest.
Remembering all of the deaths I've experienced made my hands start to shake as I hold them up to see. Now that I got another chance to be alone with my thoughts, I was honestly surprised by how much I was acting like nothing happened to me this whole time.
Just living life as usual.
Sure, I was freaking out the first time, but I couldn't process it properly the second time I died because of the intense situation I was in.
After that, I just slowly tried to forget about it for the next week, although some dark thoughts did still leak out.
It was only after dying twice today that my mental dam finally flooded. Like memories that I tried to seal away, bursting out like an unexpected explosion.
Truth be told, I haven't been able to sleep properly for the past week...
Those images in my mind were so vivid that I started having nightmares of myself dying in various scenarios.
Even so, I immediately avoided confronting those thoughts and quickly distracted myself with something else. Like watching movies or talking with Elio.
But still, I couldn't deny the fact that I did remember the pain of those deaths tucked away in a dark corner of my mind.
From my shattered skeleton, to my destroyed skull, to my dismembered limbs and to the coldness that I felt before losing consciousness.
Those experiences were horrible...
And now, despite having the option to turn back and leave the problem to someone else, I found myself purposely getting involved in another dangerous situation.
"What the hell is wrong with me..."
I said to myself.
Most people would probably think I was crazy to keep putting myself in dangerous situations like this, even after getting a taste of death.
I honestly don't understand it myself...
I started questioning why and how I ended up here.
Granted, Elio and I didn't have a choice at first. Our options were few.
It was either get to the bottom of this dilemma or live a life where you and your loved ones are being hunted down.
But now, we did have a choice to stop getting ourselves into further danger.
Like Mr. Isaac said, we could just go home. I felt relieved when I heard him say that, but I just had to keep digging deeper and ask to join him.
Despite the danger around Elio and I, we could easily just hide somewhere safe while Mr. Isaac handles the rest.
It's not like I don't trust him.
Like I said earlier, having Mr. Isaac as an ally is very comforting. So why am I still putting myself in harm's way?
Elio's reason was understandable. He wants to protect his family. But...
What's my reason for helping?
Of course, I'd want to stick around to keep Elio safe by providing support, but I felt like that wasn't the entire reason why I stayed to help...
I couldn't put it into words.
I covered my eyes with my forearm, trying to think about it some more, until I heard someone knocking on the truck's door.
Sitting back up I saw Elio from below, waving at me.
"Already time, huh?
Opening the door, I jumped down to greet Elio before stretching my legs.
"How's the kid?" I asked Elio.
"He's back home now. When I reached their house, his parents were frantically running around the street looking for him. They thanked me before I ran off. Rest assured, he's safe!"
Elio said, putting his hands around his hips as he smiled proudly.
"Good work, dude. How are you though? Are you tired from all that running?"
"Nope! My big sis' training regiment is way more hardcore! This is nothing!"
"I-i see..."
I told him, surprised.
I make sure to stay physically active, but running several kilometers back and forth and calling it nothing is nuts...
His family is filled with physical powerhouses...
Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the task ahead.
"Okay, you already know the location, right?"
"Yep! Just hop on and we'll be there in a jiffy!"
I nodded my head before getting on Elio's back like a piggyback ride.
"Alright... FULL SPEED AHEAD, MY NOBLE STEED!"
"Aye aye, sir!"
Elio said before running towards the direction of the location.
________________________________________
It didn't take long for us to get there, thanks to Elio. It's pretty convenient to be able to run around long distances quickly. If I had his power, I could save a few hundred credits by not taking the train.
The place we're at is a popular landmark in Lucida. Just a few Kilometers west outside of Astrum's border, it's located in the middle of the desert, the Lanza Piedra Valley.
It's called that because of the sandstone mountains that resemble spears. Pretty neat.
While I was deep in thought, Elio noticed someone just a few meters up ahead. It was Mr. Isaac.
Seeing this Elio gradually slowed down and stopped beside him and put me down.
The three of us were standing on top of a fairly large rock, with the road moving down towards a secluded section covered by more rocks. Right in the middle was a large building that was a branch of Lucida's leading company in the biotechnology industry.
Vida Corp.
Walking towards Mr. Isaac, I waved my hand.
"Hey, did you wait for us?"
I asked him.
Quickly answering, Mr. Isaac denied it.
"No."
Well that was a fast response...
Looking at Mr. Isaac's face, I noticed him wearing an expression that gave a hint of sadness.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
Putting his hand up, Mr. Isaac waved it off.
"It's nothing. I just didn't expect such a respected company like them to be involved in such heinous acts..."
"Yeah, me neither. They brought a lot of good to Lucida, but it doesn't excuse their actions."
"Hm..."
Mr. Isaac's expression didn't change. It was still a face full of worry.
Noticing this, I patted his shoulder.
"I'm sure your daughter is okay. With you around, she'll be back in your arms soon enough."
Isaac looked at me with his eyes wide open from surprise. It seems I was right on the mark.
Couldn't blame him though. This is his precious daughter we're talking about.
Nodding to me, he smiled.
"Yes, thank you Aran."
"No problem. So, what's the plan?"
Pointing at one of the watch towers on the North-east section of the facility, Isaac told us his plan.
"We'll enter through there. That's the place least frequented by guards, making it easier to sneak in undetected. Once we do get inside, our priority is to save my daughter and to take down the organization by gathering enough incriminating evidence which I will then give to the Bureau of Security."
"How are we so sure they haven't been bribed, too?"
"I'm giving the evidence to people I've known for a long time. Rest assured, they can be trusted."
Mr. Isaac said without any hesitation in his voice.
Hearing this, I had no more room for arguments.
"Okay, sounds like a plan. How about we go one by one, so it's harder to spot us?"
I suggested, making Mr. Isaac nod his head in agreement.
"Yes, that was my intention. I think Elio should go first. With his speed and strength, he can defend himself in case he gets spotted while waiting for us."
Whoa, you hear that Elio? A high ranking Distortion Diver recognizes your strength!
I thought to myself while smiling proudly.
Clearing my throat, I continued to ask for more details.
"How about you, Mr. Isaac?"
"I'll go last. I can provide cover while you two are trying to enter."
"Alright, I agree with this. You ready, Elio?"
Cracking his knuckles, Elio nodded with a determined face.
"Yes!"
"Okay, let's go."
With a quick nod, Elio ran down the road before running through the rock formations to hide his presence before reaching the area of the north-east watchtower.
He was hiding behind a nearby rock. Waiting for the small window of time where the guard on top of the tower looked the opposite way.
Seeing this, he effortlessly sprinted with his ability and easily jumped over the fence to hide inside a small shed.
If anyone were to enter, Elio would just need to knock them out with his electricity.
All things considered, he did amazingly.
I was happy for him, but that only meant it was my turn now...
Dreading what was about to happen, I slapped my nervously shaking legs before Mr. Isaac told me to go.
"Let's do this..."
I said to myself to hype myself up.
I ran down the road and took the same path as Elio.
Because I didn't have his speed, it took me a while to reach the place I needed to go to.
Copying what Elio did, I waited for a moment before sprinting as fast as I could while the guard's light was pointing towards a different direction.
But my run wasn't as smooth as Elio's as I almost got spotted.
Thinking quickly, I used my gloves to shoot out ropes to wrap around one of the supporting posts of the watchtower.
Not wasting another second, I made the ropes retract at full speed, making me swing through the air, moving above the fence.
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the guard's flashlight pointed at the direction where I was at a few seconds ago, only to reveal nothing but the dry desert soil.
Seeing this, I swinged down towards the ground and sneakily went inside the shed where Elio was at.
When I opened the door, Elio was already preparing to knock someone out before realizing it was me.
"Oh nice, you made it!"
"Shhh..."
I shushed him with a finger in front of my mouth.
"Oh, sorry..."
"It's okay. I don't think anyone heard it at least... We gotta be careful though..."
"Alright. So we just have to wait for Mr. Isaac, right?"
He asked me.
Nodding my head, I said yes before sitting down a crate to rest.
Surprisingly, it was warm and comfy.
Whoa, I wonder what this thing's made out of—
When I looked behind me to see, I saw that I was sitting on top of an unconscious person.
Trying to stay nonchalant, I looked at Elio with a deadpan expression...
________________________________________
It didn't take long for Mr. Isaac to get past security. In fact, he arrived even faster than Elio. He even knocked out two guards on the way here.
Imagine our surprise when after he placed the two unconscious men down, he started undressing one of them.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
I asked him, confused.
"I'm taking their clothes off."
"Yeah, I can see that. But why?"
"So we can blend in without much suspicion. It is more effective this way than fighting through hordes of men. We can save our strength for the worst case scenario..."
"I see... I can't argue with that."
I nodded as I agreed with Mr. Isaac's reasoning.
Including the man that Elio knocked out, there were three pairs of uniforms for us to wear.
After a few moments, Mr. Isaac handed Elio and I one uniform each.
They were a light grey hat, shirt, and pants. Although, they were a little big for me...
I knew I wasn't that tall, but this just hurts.
And seeing Elio's height is just rubbing salt on the wound..
Trying to comfort me, Mr. Isaac patted my back.
"It's quite alright Aran. You are still growing."
"Sniff... Thanks Mr. Isaac..."
Because of the bulkiness of the grappling gloves, I couldn't take them with me, or else I'd catch everyone's attention.
I decided to hide them inside one of the crates.
Thankfully, since we picked a shed to hide in, there were some ropes we could use to tie the unconscious men up. And to prevent them from screaming, we improvised some gags using some old cloth laying around.
Of course, we made sure they could still breathe. Even if what we're doing is morally questionable, we're not monsters... Right...?
Anyways, back to the task at hand.
Mr. Isaac each gave us something to do.
We were each going to retrieve a map or illustration of the entire facility. Once we do, we'd meet back at the same shed to start the next phase of the plan.
This is where our group would have to split up.
Mr Isaac would look for his daughter while Elio and I gather all evidence showing the illegal activity of Vida Corp.
Then finally, we escape, give the evidence to the Bureau of Security, lay low for a while, let them handle everything, and boom! Back to a normal peaceful life, baby!
I can't wait...
I thought to myself, but it wasn't the time to let my guard down just yet... We need to be prepared for the worst.
And so, after leaving the shed in different times to avoid suspicion, we initiated the first phase of the plan.