Return : Book One in the Return series

Part 9 - Breakout Crew (Part 2)

Vulture quickened his pace as he headed toward the Hivemind. Staying here too long would reveal everything about him, and he definitely didn't want that. Trying to keep his life secret was already hard enough, he didn't need a bunch of hackers tapping into all of his secrets.

  He didn't exactly know what he was looking for, but he hoped he could find it soon enough, otherwise this plan would not work. There were a couple people at a nearby table, populating the nearly empty common area. The Hivemind was built slightly like a office building, with a small area up front for people to relax, but the big work happened in the discrete offices behind. He knew there were most likely dozens of people watching his every move, and he most definitely did not like it.

He headed to the nearest table and asked , "Any of you up for a job?" Although with not much hope.

They scoffed, and one of them said , "You think we're willing to risk jail time for a little stunt? No deal."

Vulture said, "Not just any job. Breakout. Pay is 10mil."

The eyes of the people listening widened, and one of them pointed towards an unmarked black door. "That's the entrance. Ask for Big Sister."

"Big Sister?" Vulture asked, puzzled. "What kind of stupid code name is that?"

The hackers laughed. "You'll know soon enough."

Vulture shook his head and walked towards the black door. Pushing it open, he saw rows upon rows of digital tech, lining the corridors that spread across the floor like vines.

He went to the nearest human, who was doing something that looked like gibberish, and asked, "Do you know where I can find.... cough Big Sister?"

The hacker stared at him for a second, like his eyes were adjusting to the light, and pointed towards the end of the hall, where what looked like an elevator was installed.

  Vulture walked down the hall, aware of the swarms of people sitting at desks that were just barely staring at him, but staring at him nonetheless. He hurried his pace, got to the elevator, and looked for the correct floor. He saw one marked "The Boss" and figured that was it, pushed it, and lived through 10 minutes of horrible elevator music.

  He scanned his surrounding as he reached the 30th floor. It was mostly bare, a glass wall tinted black separating him and the other side of the room. He pushed open the door, cautious of whatever was on the other side. He ... did not expect what he saw

  A plain brown desk with a laptop on it. He couldn't see the face of the person behind the laptop, so he coughed politely. They raised their head, and Vulture saw that they wore a mask, with the words ERROR_404 on top. He asked, "Are you Big Sister?"

  She(or He?) casually said, "Yeah."

  Vulture coughed again, aware of how weird he was acting. "Um, are you good for a breakout job? The pay is 10 million."

  "Sure. Time and date."

  "2 days, 8pm at the prison."
 
  "Done. Now leave."

  Vulture hurriedly excused himself, consciously aware of his face flushing underneath his gear.

  After heading back down the elevator, waking past a whole lot of snickering geeks who most likely heard and saw every move he disastrously made, and leaving the courtyard, he finally calmed down. Next stop: the artificial forest, with very, very real ninjas.

                                        *   *   *

  The forest was dead. Well, it wasn't really real in the first place, but even then, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Vulture was aware of his footsteps crunching loudly every time he took a step, but he soldiered forward. Without a recon member, this plan would go to hell.

  Vulture spoke into seemingly emptiness, "I'm looking for a member to recon for a job I have. The payout is 10 million credits. Any takers?"

  What looked like a blur of pure black descended from above. It landed silently, without a sound.

  The ninja was fairly short, only up to Vulture's shoulder. They were dressed in a pure black garb, with a hood and mask concealing all, excluding obsidian black eyes.

  Vulture asked, "And you are?"

  "Kunai."

  Weird name. And not much of a conversationalist either, but they'll do, Vulture thought.

  "I've got a job that I need a recon and stealth member for. The payout is 10 million credits.  Are you in?"

  "Fine."

  "Okay... then I'll be heading out now? The location is the prison, meet me and the rest of the team in 2 days at 8pm."

  "I'll be there."

  A slight crack reached Vulture's ears and a cloud of smoke rose up where the ninja stood. He thought he saw a small blur up in the trees, but in an instant it was gone.

  "Goddamn ninjas, with their stupid smoke bombs."

  Vulture turned and headed to a rendezvous point for mission prep.

  The place he had designated as his prep area was back in the Junkyard. Spacious by his standards, cramped by other's, but good enough for his lonesome.

  He spread out a couple of blueprints and files, and looked through them. He compiled all known data on his crew members, because he wanted to know what made them tick, and how to keep it from happening. This was one job he couldn't afford to fail, not now, not ever.

  Time to get to work.