Post by Aegis Ragnarok on Aug 25, 2014 22:54:47 GMT -6
Shinsoo always had an artificial elegance to it. The streets were exceptionally well lit during the day time and even during the night they had a healthy dimness. It wasn’t sunlight, but he supposed any kind of light would keep people happy as long as they didn't have to bother with the darkness. It was late and most of the good, hardworking citizens were either at home sleeping or in a club somewhere dancing and drinking the night away. Aegis was doing neither of those things. He would have preferred to be doing either of those things but here he was, creeping around corners in the dead of night. The streets were always well kept both by the populace and the city. He supposed it wasn’t too hard to maintain cleanliness when Shinsoo didn’t allow too many “undesirables” in from the outside. His boots made hearty thuds as they brought his weight down against the concrete sidewalk. He looked up at the second tower and for a moment thought he was home. But in his past life he lived near the third and that was on the other corner of the city. He just thought it was frustrating that all the research towers had looked the same. Even down to the security cameras and the guard patterns, so then he figured that it wasn’t really that frustrating after all.
He adjusted the cheap canvas backpack that he had slung over one shoulder carefully and heard its contents slide. Aegis reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and felt the rugged metal of a wireless detonator and through his jacket he felt the pistol he kept at his side. The detonator was beaten to shit but it worked, and he couldn’t be terribly picky on the quality of stolen merchandise. The pistol was the same—only he hoped that he would not have to use the pistol for anything tonight. He peripherally looked around for bystanders—none right now. Then turned around only for a moment and saw the other three men with him moving into position nonchalantly. They kept their weapons—handguns and a couple of sawed-off shotguns—concealed for the time being beneath their jackets and they prepared to enter one of the houses. The houses closest to the towers were always the nicer ones. Their architecture was unusually ornate for a society that had valued scientific advancement over aestheticism, but then Aegis remembered that they were fairly modern. A reminder of the wealth conferred by talent and privilege. A council member was vacationing in the tropics for the week and they had planned to copy any and all information that he had left inside the house. Aegis and his bag would be placed at the far side of the tower. The electricity was mostly harnessed and routed through the research towers and Aegis had enough explosives in his bag to disrupt the main line from the outside before the backup grid kicked in. Then his squadmates would breach the house before the security system went off, find anything of use and copy it down, and then rendezvous back at their safe house closer to the center of the city, all while the police who responded would be dealing with the explosions.
He saw a guard on patrol on the parapet of the research tower and clung to the sides of the buildings that led up to the tower and kept his eyes forward and confident because there was nothing worse than being caught with a bag full of explosives planning on using them to destroy government property. Except maybe laps around the block until you couldn’t run anymore. He saw the guard turn around and then he bent low and began running across the street with one hand on his bag and the other swinging silently through the air. Two seconds. He made it underneath the awning before the guard had turned around on his patrol and again he hugged the wall. He took out some small charges and tacked them underneath the awning underneath the parapet in a line closest to the support of the wall. Next, move to the grate. Fifteen seconds. He hugged the wall and hit the ventilation grate with his leg against the building. He went into his bag and pulled out a screwdriver and a flashlight. Aegis could not feel the telltale tug of any excessive electric fields emanating and he thought to himself why they wouldn’t secure something as simple as an air vent from people like him. He mentally shrugged and laughed it off before he turned on his flashlight and held the end of it in his teeth, facing the vent, and began unscrewing it quickly. Forty five seconds to unscrew it all and throw his bag inside of it. Done. Aegis threw his bag inside the vent and placed the screwdriver and flashlight into his pockets as he began to run away. He took the detonator out of his other pocket and flipped off the protective top and pressed the button. One minute to detonation. “One minute,” Aegis repeated verbally into the microphone embedded into the bracelet he wore around his right hand.
He placed himself low and began running as fast and as quietly as he could and thankfully the guard didn’t see him. He didn’t know if the cameras saw him but he knew the guard didn’t because he didn’t try and stop him. Ten minutes to make it to the rendezvous. Ah, shit, that number was about to be changed fairly quickly. Aegis noticed someone walking toward the tower. If he didn’t do anything to try and at least delay this man, then he would have his blood and possibly some internal organs weighing down his conscience. A needless casualty of this war. Casualties were to be expected but needless ones were to be avoided. So he adjusted his course and ran at the man walking. He moved like a torpedo whose pain was humane. A broken arm instead of a dead body. Aegis attempted to crash into the man and cover the stranger’s mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t be given away to the guard this far down the street. “You’re going to want to wait a minute, buddy.” He whispered it like a scream and said it sternly as if he were a commanding officer.
An explosive metronome began to play. The charges began rhythmically detonating as their countdowns reached zero and Aegis covered the bystander's head from the debris and dust that began settling into the aftermath like locusts into a field. If he hadn't had to stop this guy--kid, really--then he wouldn't have been caught in the blast radius. He heard through his earpiece the other team moving into position, so he supposed that at least they had been able to get inside the target. "Alright buddy, nice to meet you and everything yadda yadda but I've got to jet. Take it easy, stay in school, don't respect your friendly neighborhood government officials, and always question authority!" he said as he got up from the man, dusted himself off, and prepared to leave under the cover of night and alleyway.
He adjusted the cheap canvas backpack that he had slung over one shoulder carefully and heard its contents slide. Aegis reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and felt the rugged metal of a wireless detonator and through his jacket he felt the pistol he kept at his side. The detonator was beaten to shit but it worked, and he couldn’t be terribly picky on the quality of stolen merchandise. The pistol was the same—only he hoped that he would not have to use the pistol for anything tonight. He peripherally looked around for bystanders—none right now. Then turned around only for a moment and saw the other three men with him moving into position nonchalantly. They kept their weapons—handguns and a couple of sawed-off shotguns—concealed for the time being beneath their jackets and they prepared to enter one of the houses. The houses closest to the towers were always the nicer ones. Their architecture was unusually ornate for a society that had valued scientific advancement over aestheticism, but then Aegis remembered that they were fairly modern. A reminder of the wealth conferred by talent and privilege. A council member was vacationing in the tropics for the week and they had planned to copy any and all information that he had left inside the house. Aegis and his bag would be placed at the far side of the tower. The electricity was mostly harnessed and routed through the research towers and Aegis had enough explosives in his bag to disrupt the main line from the outside before the backup grid kicked in. Then his squadmates would breach the house before the security system went off, find anything of use and copy it down, and then rendezvous back at their safe house closer to the center of the city, all while the police who responded would be dealing with the explosions.
He saw a guard on patrol on the parapet of the research tower and clung to the sides of the buildings that led up to the tower and kept his eyes forward and confident because there was nothing worse than being caught with a bag full of explosives planning on using them to destroy government property. Except maybe laps around the block until you couldn’t run anymore. He saw the guard turn around and then he bent low and began running across the street with one hand on his bag and the other swinging silently through the air. Two seconds. He made it underneath the awning before the guard had turned around on his patrol and again he hugged the wall. He took out some small charges and tacked them underneath the awning underneath the parapet in a line closest to the support of the wall. Next, move to the grate. Fifteen seconds. He hugged the wall and hit the ventilation grate with his leg against the building. He went into his bag and pulled out a screwdriver and a flashlight. Aegis could not feel the telltale tug of any excessive electric fields emanating and he thought to himself why they wouldn’t secure something as simple as an air vent from people like him. He mentally shrugged and laughed it off before he turned on his flashlight and held the end of it in his teeth, facing the vent, and began unscrewing it quickly. Forty five seconds to unscrew it all and throw his bag inside of it. Done. Aegis threw his bag inside the vent and placed the screwdriver and flashlight into his pockets as he began to run away. He took the detonator out of his other pocket and flipped off the protective top and pressed the button. One minute to detonation. “One minute,” Aegis repeated verbally into the microphone embedded into the bracelet he wore around his right hand.
He placed himself low and began running as fast and as quietly as he could and thankfully the guard didn’t see him. He didn’t know if the cameras saw him but he knew the guard didn’t because he didn’t try and stop him. Ten minutes to make it to the rendezvous. Ah, shit, that number was about to be changed fairly quickly. Aegis noticed someone walking toward the tower. If he didn’t do anything to try and at least delay this man, then he would have his blood and possibly some internal organs weighing down his conscience. A needless casualty of this war. Casualties were to be expected but needless ones were to be avoided. So he adjusted his course and ran at the man walking. He moved like a torpedo whose pain was humane. A broken arm instead of a dead body. Aegis attempted to crash into the man and cover the stranger’s mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t be given away to the guard this far down the street. “You’re going to want to wait a minute, buddy.” He whispered it like a scream and said it sternly as if he were a commanding officer.
An explosive metronome began to play. The charges began rhythmically detonating as their countdowns reached zero and Aegis covered the bystander's head from the debris and dust that began settling into the aftermath like locusts into a field. If he hadn't had to stop this guy--kid, really--then he wouldn't have been caught in the blast radius. He heard through his earpiece the other team moving into position, so he supposed that at least they had been able to get inside the target. "Alright buddy, nice to meet you and everything yadda yadda but I've got to jet. Take it easy, stay in school, don't respect your friendly neighborhood government officials, and always question authority!" he said as he got up from the man, dusted himself off, and prepared to leave under the cover of night and alleyway.
