Chapter 218 B4. 14.2 – Solo Infiltration

The elevator opened, and I childishly hopped out onto the condo’s first floor. The little thermal bag I got from Cecilia swung from my shoulder; I’d store the yield of my hunt in it. Freedom! Having helicopter parents was constricting—a helicopter best friend, in my case. I’d rather have an actual helicopter to reach my destination in style.

How much did a helicopter cost? A hundred grand was probably enough to buy a small helicopter. Like, the cheapest ones. What if I killed Cecilia and claimed the bounty? Would be fun to fly around the city during rush hour and flaunt my ride to those poor souls trapped in traffic.

Don’t think of killing Cecilia for the bounty, I scolded myself. Euphonia would kill me if I showed myself to her. And Cecilia had more use than a hundred grand reward.

I entered the ladies’ room. Empty. I picked the cubicle furthest from the door.

How much would the cab fare be to the Latch? I placed some bills on the toilet cover—wouldn’t want my money to disappear after I transformed. I also had enough for the ride home.

I left my phone upstairs, in my room. For security reasons and stuff, yeah. But I also didn’t want Deen calling to check up on me. That said, we’d need burner phones for missions. Something that couldn’t be tracked. I bet Cecilia has suggestions; that could be her first actual help to us.

Gold light filled the cubicle as I summoned my third mask.

Then the gold receded as the mask took shape, a crystalline object that didn’t look like much of a mask. No eyeholes. No facial features whatsoever. And it wasn’t even symmetrical in its design, if it could be called a design.

“How much is this worth?” I turned the mask over, admiring the tiny embers trapped inside the crystal. It may look weird, but it was very beautiful. “Time to get naked.” I put on the mask while holding the bag, transporting to the dimension or wherever my clothes went to.

Same as my first time transforming into this body, my heartbeat started to pick up. Previously, fear had gripped me—I was in a building, hunted by Corebrings. Now, I was stressed at the mission. I didn’t want to do this on my own! What if I messed up? I should get Deen to—

No! I slapped myself. The sound of glass hitting glass reverberated in the ladies’ room.

I was covered head to toe with interlocking pieces of glass. I even had glass heels.

As Cinderella did, I thought, remembering Mom’s gift of a glass slipper keychain. I hoped Mom wouldn’t be in danger because of me. That was reason enough to push through with this mission.

Helping Cecilia wasn’t my only goal. I also aimed to gather intel about the 2Ms and the Tea Party. At least, that was my plan before I transformed.

Could I handle it? Could I fool people at the bar to give me info, like the location of Red Island? Did my plan even make sense?

Watching Cecilia scroll through the list of bounties made me realize that the criminal underworld was huge. I knew that already—drugs everywhere, corruption everywhere—but that was tangible evidence right in front of me. They had sites in the dark web for stuff like that. Super organized. Interconnected.

Euphonia, a powerful Adumbrae given everything I had heard about her, still had to go through official criminal channels, as ridiculous as that sounded, to place her bounties. She wasn’t free to traipse around La Esperanza and hunt for Red Hood. Before this whole debacle, I’ve learned that Euphonia regularly interacted with human groups such as the PCM and the Tea Party. She didn’t just take what she wanted by force. She couldn’t.

And that got me thinking—what if I were a big enough figure in the criminal underworld that I’d be practically untouchable? No one, be it human or Adumbrae, would bother me. It’d be just like that one mafia movie where everyone was afraid of this unseen mob boss.

A really insane idea to even consider, now that I had a sensible brain capable of feeling normal emotions. How would I even pull that off? And Corebrings would still be after me.

I shook my head as I left the cubicle. My reflection on the long mirror above the sink showed that I was still Erind—my naked body was trapped in an armor of glass. My eyes were closed behind the face cover of my helmet, but I could see.

Was I… the armor?

The restroom door opened. I froze like a deer in the headlights, if that deer and car were inside the restroom somehow. It was the cleaning lady. I breathed a sigh of relief. Figuratively, of course, since my Erind body wasn’t breathing.

A hint of recognition passed through the cleaning lady’s eyes, then she looked away. I checked the mirror. My disguise powers had activated, and I looked like I could be the cleaning lady’s relative. I briskly walked out of the restroom before the cleaning lady could ask questions.  

This is my power’s weakness, I thought, heading out of the building.

I needed someone to look at me for the illusion to generate. What if a camera, with no one behind it, recorded my appearance? Would the footage viewed later show my true body? It wasn’t like an illusion could appear after I’d return to my original body.

I walked a couple of blocks away before hailing a cab, just an extra layer of security that probably wasn’t necessary. Deen had wanted to drive me to the Latch, but I argued that her car shouldn’t be anywhere near that place.  

“The Roost at Summerlin?” the driver repeated the address I gave him. “Fancy place, that. Charges freaking eight grand a night to drink alkaline water while looking at the dessert. And that’s the cheapest room!”

“I’m not staying there,” I replied. “Just a small get-together with friends, like, wanting to feel wealthy for a night. We’ve saved for this for a couple of months.” Easy for me to concoct stories. I felt guilty I had to lie to the cab driver who only wanted to chat.

“Ah, right, right. Treat yourselves. Me, I don’t see what’s great with Summerlin. If you want to pretend that you’re on Mars, I suppose. The roads not as clogged as the Strip is a big plus.”

While the cab driver ranted about some new traffic regulations covering the Strip, I turned to the window. My slight reflection confirmed that I hadn’t changed illusions. Not sure how I could reset this. Maybe no one should look at me for some time?

I wanted to test my powers with Deen. But how, with Cecilia around? The mad scientist had become a permanent fixture in our lives. Should I reveal my secrets to Cecilia and be done with it?

Too risky, I mentally concluded. Cecilia could sell me out to Euphonia. Would. The crystals on my palm may be worth Euphonia’s forgiveness.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. Breathe deep. Wait, I couldn’t breathe. If my original body was switched off, like when I was Pino, then how could I feel fear?

Were my emotions… really mine?

I tortured myself with existential worries all the way to my destination.

On the western rim of the valley was Summerlin, the wealthy side of the city. Technically, the Strip had way more casinos and resorts. But there were also loads of tourists there. Summerlin was the more exclusive area where the rich lived, unbothered by the tourists who were only familiar with the Strip and the Understrip.

The Roost was located far to the back of Summerlin, built into the foothills. It was a combination of carved red rock and black glass, molded into the shape of a giant bowl. A nest, actually. Someone unfamiliar would assume this weirdo structure was an eccentric billionaire’s modern art bunker.

It’s showtime, I thought. My burgeoning fear had me spouting cheesy movie lines.

“Could you drop me off at the parking area?” I asked. “I think my friend’s already there.”

“Got it, ma’am.” The taxi swerved away from the main entrance.

I got a look at the scary-looking men in tuxedos flanking the glass doors. They didn’t pay us any mind as we passed. The Roost was technically open to everyone, parts of it, specifically its main restaurant and casino on the first floor. Deeper areas were more exclusive. I could’ve gone in with my current illusion, but I wanted a new one.

I alighted by the covered pathway beside the parking lot that snaked back to the hotel’s main entrance. As the taxi drove away, I stuck my arms to my sides, resisting from waving to call it back. The taxi turned left, out of the parking area, and disappeared.

I took that as a sign that I had to do this mission. “As if I can back out now.”

If I returned to my condo empty-handed, either Deen would hunt an Adumbrae herself, or she’d just let Cecilia die, judging her too much a bother to save. I didn’t want either of those to happen. A worse possibility was I’d attack this place head-on as Blanchette—I had to succeed to prevent bloodshed.

I subtly checked the location of the camera. Not many of them. I positioned myself behind a palm tree while waiting for a target.

Seconds ticked by and I started to become antsy. Thoughts of backing out returned.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for the next phase of my plan to kick in. A clearly irate man, barking into his phone, stomped on the pathway and headed my way. He wore corporate attire with his collar button open and tie loosened. As obvious as it could get that he was relaxing after a long day at work.

Supposed to be relaxing. There seemed to be an emergency that pissed him off.  

“I was hoping no one would come,” I muttered, knowing that was impossible.

But did it have to be this guy? On the other hand, waiting longer would risk attracting suspicion. Some guard might pass by and wonder why the hell I was standing here. Even if I looked like a guard’s beloved grandmother, they’d still do their job and investigate me—this was another weakness of my power.

I was anxious I’d get scolded by this man—an irrational emotion. Though I didn’t want to bother him, he was perfect for my plans.

I walked up to him, aiming for our paths to intersect. Ten feet gap. I started wobbling my steps. Five feet. The man noticed me.

“Hey, are you alright?” He slowed down and held his phone away.

“I-I’m dizzy,” I said. “I think I’m… I’m…” I pretended to fall towards him. To his credit, he caught me. I grabbed his wrist as if I was steadying myself. Skin contact.

For a second I could feel his being. How tall this man was. The way he held his shoulders. It wasn’t memories; I didn’t know anything about him. But I knew how to look like him, including his mannerisms.

“Whoa there, miss! The hell’s wrong with you?” The man shook off my hand and zoomed away. He probably remembered to be decent because he yelled when he had reached the row of cars, “Go to the hotel and ask for help!”

I watched the man enter his car and drive away in a hurry. Good thing he didn’t offer to accompany me to the hotel.

A couple was coming from the hotel, their laughter clear in the silence of the parking lot. I stepped out from behind the palm tree a changed man. Literally. Checking my body, I had transformed into the man I had bumped, including his disheveled outfit. I wore a grumpy face as I passed the couple—they were probably on a date, too enamored with each other to notice me.

It lowered my anxiety a notch. My disguise was suitable. No scanners should detect me. Everything would proceed smoothly until the ugly part comes of kidnapping an Adumbrae.

“Good evening, Mr. Matherson.” A guard bastard almost made me jump out of my skin! I was too engrossed in my thoughts, looking down at the cobbled path, and didn’t notice him. “Back so soon, sir?” he asked.

“I’m not done with my drink,” I said, slurring my words to sound a bit drunk. “The night’s young. The emergency was a false alarm.”

“Good to hear, sir.” The guard stepped aside and gestured that I should pass.

The small win bolstered my confidence. I walked up to the entrance, nodding at the guards, and passed multiple scanners with no hesitation. From Cecilia’s research, we learned that one of these was a metal detector, another was a bio-scanner, and the last was some sort of X-ray machine to catch hidden augs or inhuman mutations.

Cecilia explained that there were Adumbrae that could fool the bio-scanners. However, when they passed through an X-ray, their insides would either look all weird or be blotted out. Not very human at all.

Just keep walking, I thought with clenched teeth.

No alarm sounded.

The guards waved me through.

Yes! I wanted to jump in celebration. I didn’t do that, of course. Instead, I walked across the black marble floor, marveling at the floating golden artwork above, and headed to one of the elevators.

The Latch was located a few levels underground. But my first destination was up—I needed a suitable disguise to head down. Cecilia learned that the entrance to the Latch was by invitation only. No offense to Mr. Matherson, but he didn’t seem important enough to be allowed there.

A guard in a white suit, contrasting those wearing black by the entrance, guarded the elevator. Both of his eyes were augmented, shining with blue backlight as he scanned me.

“Returning to the Perch, Mr. Matherson?” he asked.

Perch—that’s the top floor of the Roost, an altogether different bar from my target. Not sure why the underground bar was called the Latch. It didn’t keep up with the bird theme.

“That’s right,” I said. “My night isn’t ruined just yet.” I was gaining confidence with my disguise.

“This way, sir.”

The elevator was a glass box that went up through rock. The numbers ticked upward. This was showtime… for the second time. The doors opened to the starry night sky and slow jazz music.