Chapter 122 – Infiltration

A Few Hours Later

Yuna was crouching uncomfortably behind a bush with her back pushed back against a tree. Next to her sat Erica who was playing with a knife in her hand. Sarah was next, sitting cross legged with her eyes closed.

“Tiar, I already told you why you can’t come,” Boss’s voice whispered a bit loudly in the dead night. “If there is even a small chance that you’re seen, you’ll be discovered.”

Glancing up, Yuna saw Boss sitting on a tree branch. One leg was drawn up while the other was hanging out in the air. She held a dagger in one hand, flipping it up in the air as she talked into what Yuna could only guess was an earpiece of sorts.

“I know this is important for you,” she continued. “That’s why I told you directly what this was about and why you can’t go.” Boss paused as she listened to the reply. “Look. The way you’re acting right now only reinforces my stance that you can’t come. Don’t worry, Tiar. We’ll do this mission and we’ll do it right. Now calm down and wait for us to return, all right? Good.”

Boss stopped talking and looked down at Yuna who was still watching her. She raised an eyebrow at her and Yuna turned away.

“Why is Tiar so passionate about this?” Yuna asked, directing her question to Erica. “He’s been insisting with Boss to take him on this mission since our briefing finished.”

“You’ll see why,” Erica replied. She gave Yuna a small smile that looked a bit forced. “Boss knew that he wouldn’t be able to control himself, so she told him to sit this one out.”

“Oh. I see.”

Yuna didn’t bother asking further. She had tried to get someone to tell her what exactly to expect on the mission but she was either met with small smiles or people telling her to wait and see. 

‘I can’t push the issue either. They’re already watching me so I can’t do anything too suspicious without a good reason.’

“Understood.” Yuna flinched at Boss’s voice, before seeing that she was talking to her earpiece. “We’ll be on our way.”

She dropped off of the branch she was sitting on and landed without a sound, her legs bending. 

“Let’s go,” Boss said. “Akira is waiting for us.”

The others stood up and followed Boss as she ran through the trees parallel to the paved road beside her. Yuna trailed them as they ran, her legs pumping. The three people in front of her ran at a much faster pace than she was used to and it seemed to only be a jog to them.

‘I wonder what their strength rank is at,’ Yuna thought as she sprinted to keep up. 

Boss stopped at the edge of the forest before it opened up into a thin but long clearing that was followed by a large metal wall. After glancing around for a bit, Boss gave a small nod and Akira popped out from nowhere. 

“Where was she?” Yuna whispered to Erica. 

“Akira is very good at being sneaky,” she replied. “I’m just glad that she doesn’t have a habit of playing pranks.”

“The guards just started their rounds,” Akira said to Boss. “The next group should be here very soon.”

“Good. Let’s climb,” Boss nodded as she put something that looked to be a screen in front of her right eye.

She sprinted to the wall and the others followed her. This was a part of the plan that Yuna knew. Boss was to create foot holds on the wall so that the group could climb up. Akira would then follow from behind and remove the foot holds. With amazing dexterity and agility, Boss clamored up the metal wall within a few seconds. Sarah followed quickly behind and then Erica and finally Yuna. Yuna dropped down to the ground and rolled to soften her impact. Beside her, she heard another thump and saw Akira landing next to her.

Without a word, Boss started to move. Her hand glowed softly as she crept along the well kept grass. During the briefing, she had explained to Yuna that she would be concealing their presence from guards and cameras. Yuna didn’t know how as Boss hadn’t explained the specifics to her.

‘She has to be manipulating the light and heat around us though. I’m sure this place has cameras that can sense heat and artificially lighten their field of vision.’

Boss stopped at a wall and took out something from her pocket that was too small for Yuna to see. She stared at the wall for a few seconds before she leapt up and tapped it, sticking whatever she was holding on to it.

“Uriel, do your thing. I got a wire for you,” Boss whispered.

They stood there, in the dark, as they waited for Boss to move. Yuna felt her stomach tightening more and more as time ticked by. Then Boss did a sharp nod and started to walk leisurely along the field.

“Erica, when we walk through this door, you do your thing,” she said.

“Alright,” Erica replied.

The group of five strolled up to the glass front door of the Mason Inc. building and the slide wide open for them to enter. A guard inside the building stood from his seat at his desk, taking out a gun from his waistband.

“Now, now. Don’t be so hasty,” Erica smiled, waving her finger. The man froze but his eyes widened and flickered around panickedly. “Take a small nap now, why don’t you?”

The man’s eyes rolled up and he collapsed, falling back onto his seat. Boss looked at the unconscious elf with a contemplative look before her arm flashed and and the hilt of a dagger sprouted out from the man’s chest. She jerked her arm back and the dagger flew back to her.

“Why did you do that?” Yuna asked, almost yelling. “I thought we were going to wipe everyone’s memories?”

“Shh,” Boss said, putting a finger to her mouth. “He saw too much already. We don’t have much time so even if Erica wiped his memories, there may still be residual memories left that could be found if someone dug hard enough. Let’s go.”

She marched down the hallway, Erica following right beside him. Yuna glanced over at Sarah who shrugged and walked off to catch up with Boss.

“It’s security reasons,” Akira said behind Yuna. Yuna turned to look at her and was met with a small smile. “Don’t let your feelings get in the way. There’s a reason why Tiar isn’t here.”

‘She’s right,’ Yuna sighed. 

Yuna reminded herself that she wasn’t with the LIA right now. She was doing an operation with a dark guild that made secrecy a priority. When she thought about it, killing people that see them did make sense. Boss was already being kind in not killing everyone and only wiping their memories. The first man was just unlucky.

‘But I still don’t feel right. The LIA tries everything they can to incapacitate rather than kill. That was how I was trained.’

She let out another sigh and walked quickly to catch up with the others. She just had to accept it. 

Boss wove her way through the hallways of the building and seemed to be avoiding as many guards as possible. When she detected one, she sent Erica forward who would then render them unconscious and wipe their memories. 

“Up ahead?” Boss said suddenly. She tilted her head as she listened to her earpiece. “Got it. Everyone, stay back. I’m going inside the next room alone.”

“Understood,” Akira replied. The others nodded.

One turn later, Yuna saw a metal door in front of them. Boss marched up to them and the others held back. The doors slid open and Boss walked right through before they closed. For the brief time the doors were apart, Yuna saw at least three guards standing inside the room.

‘Wait. She’s taking them all on? I saw three so there has to be more than that in there. Was it because the group was too large that Boss didn’t think Erica could handle it?’

As she finished the thought, the doors opened again, permanently this time. Akira walked through them and the rest followed. When Yuna entered, she found the bodies of five guards. Three of them were male and two were female. They didn’t seem to have been killed by a blade due to the lack of blood. From the unnatural angles of some of the heads of the guards, Yuna assumed that Boss had killed them with her hands.

“What we came here for is waiting for us right below,” Boss said. She tilted her head towards the door to her left. “We just need to take that elevator down.”

“Why did you kill them all?” Erica asked. “I could have put them all to sleep easily.”

“Two reasons,” Boss answered. “One is that I want to limit the amount of mana you use. A group this large would use enough mana that a signature would be easily found. Second is that it would take too much time. I want to be out of here as soon as possible.”

Erica nodded at the explanation and Boss made her way to the door on her left. She stood there, waiting for something to happen. The door beeped and slid up.

“Thank you, Uriel,” Boss said. Then she looked at Yuna and the others. “Come along now.”

They all walked into the elevator and the door slid shut. Then they descended, their speed Yuna could not tell. When the elevator car stopped, the door stayed shut.

“Yuna. You wanted to know what we came here for, right?” Boss asked.

“I did,” Yuna answered. “And I still do.”

“Then let me ask you for one thing before these doors open. I want you to throw away any prejudices you have. Every assumption you’ve made. I want you to clear your mind and look through unfogged lenses. Can you do that for me?”

“I’ll try my best.”

Boss looked at Yuna with cool eyes before nodding slowly. 

“I hope that you do. Uriel, if you would,” she said.

The door slid up and the group walked out.