Enhance 2: Chapter 7

Staying behind at home doing nothing wasn’t really Shade’s thing, especially with Yumi gone. So, he tagged along with Rogue on running Darren’s errand. The pair found they were leaving the city behind on the train. It was always surreal watching the buildings of brick and mortar suddenly disappear to empty land filled with train tracks and old abandoned cars.

Most of them were heavily decorated with graffiti, swirling shapes and characters of ever color and combination. A long time ago Shade would have known an artist or five but now he was very much out of the loop. The train stopped with a screech and they along with a few others got off. Both of them were just armed with draw string bags over their shoulders and basic clothes.

Shade walked toward the edge of the raised station. He leaned against the railing looking at the factory in the distance. The easy way, if they were doing things legally, would be the hitch a ride on a supply train and get dropped off or to just walk off the station and drive over on the dirt road.

They were doing neither of those things however.

“Ready?” Rogue asked raising his hand.

“Never ready for this but hey let’s do it,” Shade replied and grabbed his hand.

And then they moved. Not like hopping over the edge of the station and running along the street or something simple like that. They vanished, dragged through whatever power Rogue had access to. It was always instantaneous too. One moment they were standing on the train station and the next they were a few blocks ahead, standing on dirt ground.

Bracing his self never really worked the way he wanted to either. The moment they landed he stumbled forward but Rogue kept him standing. “No idea how you keep doing that.”

Rogue smirked, “Practice. Jumping again.”

“Okay.”

They teleported again and again across the train yard closing the distance between themselves and the factory. It was a larger one with one main building and then two adjacent buildings that were all half the size. A dozen or so cars were parked just outside of the main building and a tall pipe was belching out smoke.

They teleported one more time and appeared just outside one of the smaller buildings. A car drove past and they turned around putting their backs to it doing their best to blend in for the time being. Shade glanced at his partner and then leaned back to make sure the coast was clear.

“The roof and then we work it out,” Rogue started to raise his hand and Shade shook his head hard.

“No no. I think I’ll climb the old-fashioned way.”

Rogue just laughed and vanished. Shade took a few steps back and leaned back craning his neck up. It was at least thirty feet up so getting there in one go wasn’t going to happen.

Backing up slowly he stared at the side of the small building. A few windows spread out around this face. Not attached to the building but just adjacent to it was a smaller square building. It was an office or something similar. He could work with that. Running around the building he saw a car parked just behind the office building and that made things even easier.

Jumping onto the roof of the car, he planted both feet down and jumped nearly clearing the roof of the office. Keeping his momentum, he stepped on the edge and threw himself at the factory wall. His hands reached out and he grabbed onto the ledge of the window. He hit it with a loud thud and braced his legs against the wall. Pulling himself up he relaxed for a moment then jumped again putting all his leg strength into it.

Both his hands slammed into the edge of the roof and his heart skipped a beat as he slid backwards slightly. Kicking his leg into the wall and taking a breath. Pulling himself up he rolled onto the roof and let out sigh taking a breather. Staring up at the empty greying blue sky he watched as Rogue entered his vision.

“Don’t say a word,” he mumbled and Rogue extended a hand. Shade took it and got to his feet cracking his shoulder. “Did Darren send us a floor plan of the inside?”

“I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”

“Then let’s put on our work clothes.”

Reaching into their bags together they produced their white masks. New designs compared to their old ones from the previous year. They booted up, resting against their faces and the lenses came to life scanning their pupils. Recognizing their proper wearers, they came to life. Sure enough there was a message waiting from Darren with an intricate floor plan for them. It was even marked with where to find the items they needed.

“We’re just getting cables?” Shade asked glancing at their list. “The heck are they working on?”

“No idea. Didn’t ask and they’re probably working with Feint now,” Rogue crouched staring ahead. “There’s two spots where the cables are likely at.”

“Storage room and on the assembly line,” Shade nodded. “Which one do you want?”

“Assembly line. Easy in and out.”

“Guess that means I’ll sneak into the storage room. Let’s get over there.”

“You want to go the old fashioned way?”

Shade rolled his eyes, “Teleport me with you.”

They clasped hands and were on the other side on the factory roof. Crossing the roof quickly they found a skylight that was open for the time being, probably to let in some fresh air. From their position up top they could see the assembly line workers, the machines putting together pieces of metal into what they could guess was for cranes.

There were workers overseeing the machines or hand going over the pieces for assembly error. Immediately they were able to pin point where the cables being worked on were. In their own bucket toward the middle of the assembly line to be strung through the crane hooks being put together.

“Found my objective,” he said pointing at it and Shade nodded.

Pointing toward the far wall he couldn’t see anything himself but his mask was able to track through the walls for what he wanted, “And I found mine. I’ll give a ring when its time to get out.”

Rogue nodded and they clasped hands again teleporting to a corner of the factory. There was a fork lift nearby and a huge wooden box ready to be lifted. Shade walked past it and saw that the keys were still in the ignition ready to drive. Nodding slowly and putting that in his back pocket he worked toward the storage room. He realized relatively quickly that there weren’t that many people in the factory. Maybe two dozen if that.

Most were working the conveyor belt, though he saw a couple fork lifts moving supplies around. Human eyes weren’t what he was truly worried about though. Moving around a crate he cast his eyes up toward the wall and saw a security camera blinking as it surveyed the factory to make sure they kept up the good work.

It was behind him at the moment which meant it would rotate back soon. Darting from box to box he took refuge behind the massive arm of a machine as it tilted around. Stepping around with it as it moved he saw a worker bent over one of the conveyor belts. Sucking in a shallow breath he reached absently for the belt.

Picking up a half put together metal rod he tossed it off sending an echo of metal into the air. Walking to the opposite direction he watched the workers jump and stare at the belt. They swore under the breath and pressed a button to cause it to stop entirely and figure out what just happened.

Shade walked right past them and they didn’t bat an eye. Like he wasn’t even there. But they did shudder as he stepped past, like a cold chill. They tried to look back but another coworker came over shouting something to get their attention and Shade was gone.

The storage room was adjacent to the front of the factory. Instead of turning right to get to the front of the conveyor built he took a sharp left to a locked room marked storage. The sign had seen better days. He tried the handle and it turned without any resistance. What he imagined would have been a robust and secured storage room was just a bunch of boxes labeled and stacked haphazardly on shelves.

Taking the better part of twenty minutes to sift through most of it by hand he finally found the box, not marked cables but instead marked with a date two weeks old. But they matched the pictures that Darren had sent him. Shoving them into his bag he tapped his mask as he backed out.

“Got my cargo. Ready when you are.”

“Already on my way.”

As Shade stepped out of the room Rogue appeared out of thin air. It was honestly like skipping a frame in a film. Rogue flexed the bag on his shoulder and Shade raised his in response. “One down. One to go.”

Rogue teleported them back onto the floor but they weren’t there for a second before taking them back up to their roof. “How the hell did I ever run missions without having you around to get me through this stuff?”

Shrugging his shoulders Rogue cracked his neck as Shade went through his bag again. The cable was coarse in his fingers, the metal overlapped tightly like rope. It wasn’t thick either yet, thin as a shoe lace.

“You know I get the feeling we could have just bought the cable from like Home Depot.”

“Probably but it’s always easier than waiting a line.” Shade laughed at that and stood atop the factory rooftop as Rogue appeared at his side. “Besides the quality of the stuff at a home depot is crap compared to this.”

“Alright mask. Last stop. Need wire. Lots of it apparently.”

“Not something that’s easily bought by people like us.”

“Gotta book it back to another train,” Shade said taking off his masking and taking a breath of fresh air. “We’ve got a few minutes before the next one even gets here.”

They started walking back along the tracks when Shade’s felt something go down his spine. Something was off. The sense that they weren’t alone at the moment. He started to put his mask on his face but instead he ducked, dropping to his hands.

A leg swung over his head as he slipped his mask back on his face. His attacker turned and kicked him in the chest sending him sliding across the train yard. Rolling back and popping back to his feet.

He narrowed his eyes behind the mask staring at his attacker. They, or rather she, was wearing something like a black body suit that was close to almost skin tight. But on top of that was a jacket that was various shades of red that rotated vibrant colors as it caught the light. But what really caught their eyes was the black mask hanging on her face with a single red line down the middle and shoulder length black pony tail.

She didn’t say anything, simply stared at the pair of them before surging forward. Rogue appeared in front of her his arm straight at her throat. Instead of it catching her off guard she grabbed it and flipped over him. Catching him off guard he stumbled around her as she turned on him.

Her attacks were fast and he had a rough time keeping up with her blocking the punches with his arms and her kicks with own legs. Hopping away his feet skid across the ground and he vanished again. Stepping to the side a fist flew past her head and she grabbed Shade’s arm flipping him over her shoulder and into the ground.

She moved forward ready to step on him but shuddered as he disappeared from her sight. She knew he was there but her eyes crossed, not able to focus. She hit her mask letting out a frustrated grunt when suddenly her legs were swept from under her and her world was turned horizontal.

Shade stood over her raising his eyebrow, “And I thought we were the only ones using the mask thing. Think Phase has another family running around out there?”

Rogue appeared at his shoulder and walked over, raising his foot to kick their assailant. Before his foot could come down, she grabbed his leg and he started to feel heat from his foot. Panicked he vanished taking her with him.

When they landed, they hit the ground hard and spun away from one another. He looked down at his ankle and it was no worse for wear. She stood the jacket moving like flames around her shoulders. She lunged again her fist flying as a flurry and he was immediately on the defensive blocking as best he could.

She kicked at his legs and he stepped to the side, ducking under her fist and closed the distance punching her in the chest. Keeping momentum, he grabbed her shoulder and slammed his head against her own. Both masks held up from the blow but hers was definitely thicker. He stumbled backwards and she snorted kicking at him.

She looked at him but turned and heard Shade on his way and scowled. Turning to face him she lunged at him and he slid back avoiding the first swipe of her fist. Jumping forward she kicked catching him in the shoulder but his fist slammed into her knee in response. She fell to the ground bouncing back to her feet.

Clasping both her hands together she smashed them into his face sending his mask flying off his face and against the ground. The mask cut across his forehead dragging a swear from his mouth. Stumbling backwards he touched his now bleeding forehead and glared at her but she stared at him and paused.

Looking back at Rogue she finally stood up and shook her head, “Neither of you are the one I’m looking for. Waste of my time.”

Turning around she started running away leaving them behind. Shade reached out to stop her but fell to his knee his head throbbing and vision swimming for a moment. Rogue helped him keep standing. They watched her go disappearing into the distance before Rogue turned his focus back onto his teammate.

“You okay?”

“I’ve been worse,” he mumbled forcing himself back to his feet. “Think Darren will understand if we don’t bring back everything?”

“I’m pretty sure. Let’s get you back home.”