Enhance 2: Chapter 8

“Can you tighten that wire a bit more?” Darren asked looking through a magnifying glass attached to a headband.

“Yeah. Let me try. There. Try now.” Feint replied looking at her work through her own magnifying glass head set.

The pair sat opposite one another at a long table fixed in the center of the room. Scattered across it’s wooden surface were batteries, wires, clips, clamps, scissors and many other tools meant for small and delicate operations. The lights in the room were dimmed to the point where they might as well have been off. Both of them had stands with a set of magnifying attached and a wheel to dial between them but at the moment they were on a small one to really focus.

“Alright I’m going to try running the current through it again,” Darren looked down and hovered their hand over a button before pressing it. A spark buzzed and then the room was suddenly illuminated brightly by the light bulb sitting in the center of the table. The light was bright enough that both of them looked away from the source.

“Glad that thing is working as intended,” they mumbled. “Onto the second phase.”

Moving their hand Darren tapped another button and this time a whirring noise filled the room. And then suddenly a small black object shot out of a launcher next to the light and flew into a block of cement leaving a small but deep dent. It was a pointed drill piece with a length of wire from the drill to the launcher. There were several small dents next to that one along with a few in the wall beyond it. Aiming wasn’t the easiest thing.

“I think that’s helped for maintaining the power of the launcher,” Feint said teasing the wire and it twanged in response.

“Seems like it. Wrap it up with phase three” Flipping another switch a small wench turned on. It spun rapidly reeling in the previously ejected drill out of its container. It whirred harder as the drill wiggled back and forth and the block jerked forward before the drill dislodged and the drill flew back into its launcher.

The launcher jolted but remained steadily in its position. Darren hit the first button and the light died down as well and they folded their arms. The wires crackled lightly in the new darkness but they sighed. “Crap quality wires though. I think that’s good enough for now.”

“You put together a really strong electro magnet but what’s it for?”

“A project that should help the six of you hopefully. But for the time being I can’t even begin field testing without the stuff that I sent Shade and Rogue to collect,” they said. “But once they come back you can help me put it together.”

“You enjoy knowing more than other people,” Feint said throwing them a smile and they returned it.

“I made a living off it once. Hard habit to break,” Going back to a shelf they dug through a box shifting around and came back wearing a black glove that had strings attached to the fingers that were hanging around loosely. Looking at the strings they swore lightly and sighed. “Still need to set these up properly.”

“What is that? Some funky glove?” she asked.

“Kinda,” they moved one of the strings attached to their index finger and properly hooked it through the glove. They then flexed their index finger and part of the glove moved. “The plan is to be able to thread the strings through the glov and trigger the switches and make them turn on and off.”

“Alright. Cool, remote controlled electronic gloves,” Feint said taking glove and messing with it. “So, what’s the end game?”

“That’s the secret,” they winked. “But you’ll see soon since I’ll definitely need your help to make it happen.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets,” she replied. “I’m going to go check on Phase. Maybe get some lunch. You in?”

“Yeah. Give me a few minutes to clean up in here.”

She left them to it and came back to the living room. Phase was in his room but the moment she came into the room Roxie padded out to greet her, her tail wagging. “Hi girl. Are you looking for food too?” She looked at her happily but turned toward the window and barked.

She looked over as it opened up. Rogue walked forward dropping his bag on the ground with Shade in his arms. Rogue’s bandana was tied around Shade’s head the blood soaking through it now and he wasn’t conscious. “We have a situation.” He said sharply his mask still clinging to his face.

Feint rushed forward and swept everything off the table taking Shade’s other arm and laying him on it. Shade groaned and she slowly removed the bandana letting it fall to the ground with a wet splash.

“Phase! Give me a hand here!” she shouted and then looked toward Rogue. “You know where the first aid kit is right?” he nodded and vanished.

Phase walked through the wall but when he saw Shade he moved and crouched beside her. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Give me a hand here,” she sweeping his hair back and seeing the cut that had deepened at his forehead. Phase saw the cut and went to the kitchen getting a towel and soaking it in warm water.

Rogue appeared just as he came back. Phase wiped away the majority of the blood and was able to see the cut itself. It was a long scratch, a lot deeper than it looked. Rogue got out a long roll of tape to complement the gauze and tapped it against his forehead. They could feel the pulse in his forehead but the bleeding was under control.

Rogue finished wrapping the wound and cut it off so that it would hold later. Feint slumped backwards and sat against the chair ignoring the fact that there was now blood on their coffee table. Rogue slid his mask off and shut his eyes. Without his bandana Rogue’s hair hung loosely around his face and his eyes looked more haggard than the normal drowsiness there.

“What happened?” Phase asked.

Rogue sighed, “The mission went good. Got the first thing no problem. We were on our way out when we got attacked by some woman wearing a mask. She said that we weren’t the ones she wanted and just left.”

“She did this to Shade?” Feint asked and Rogue nodded.

“Happened during the fighting. If that was on purpose I don’t know but it happened fast. He was conscious most of the way back but he passed out a few blocks before we got here.”

“He’ll be okay. He just needs to rest. He’s lost a decent amount of blood though,” Phase rubbed his temples. “Who the hell was she?”

“Whoever she was I can try to go over the footage from his mask and figure it out,” Darren said picking it up. “Yours too Rogue.”

He handed it over to them and then looked around, “Echo and Yumi aren’t back yet?”

“No. Probably still blowing off steam,” Phase said. “But she’ll want to know what happened.” He left going back to his room to grab his phone and called Yumi’s number. It rang once and then heard the vibrating from the room adjacent to his own. Walking in he saw her phone buzzing on the dresser and swore going back into the living room. “Looks like she left it behind.”

“Call Echo,” Feint said but Phase was already pointing toward his phone.

The phone rang once before he heard it pick up, “Hey Phase. Yes, I’m with Yumi and she’s okay.”

“Put Yumi on the phone,” he said immediately. Before she could say anything more, “Shade’s hurt.”

Silence followed and he could hear wind and movement as the phone shifted hands and Yumi’s voice came through, “What happened?”

“Shade’s hurt. Cut on his head. Bled bad,” Phase told her. “We got it patched up but he’s unconscious right now.”

“I’m on my way back,” Yumi said and the call ended. Phase stared at the beeping phone blinking quickly but shook his head. “Yumi’s on her way back.”

It took Yumi the better part of an hour since she and Echo had been almost on the other side of the city and had to use mostly public transit to get there. Feint had moved Shade to their room and checked on him periodically to make sure his conditioned maintained stable which it had.

They managed to clean the majority of the blood off the table and living room and tossed Rogue’s bandana into the washing machine. They’d put together a small meal to eat just to get something in them through all the excitement. Darren didn’t leave their room, Shade and Rogue’s mask both in their possession. They had downloaded the last couple hours of footage and was scanning the footage with Feint.

Instead of the balcony Yumi came back through the front door from the elevator and she stumbled into the apartment. She first ran into Phase who was sitting in the living room. Both he and Roxie looked at Yumi and she looked at the empty living room and her eyes darted to the hallway of their rooms.

“He’s in your room,” Phase told her and she nodded quickly going in.

Rogue looked up from a notebook, his pencil stopping. Getting up slowly he looked over at Shade and then her. “He’s sleeping. Still okay. All yours now.”

“Thanks Senpai,” Yumi stepped aside as he walked out of the room and he squeezed her shoulder lightly. She moved quickly going to the bed and climbed into it, sitting beside him. He was under the blanket a fresh set of bandages wrapped around his forehead. She reached over and stroked his face with the back of her hand.

Running her hand down his neck and chest feeling his pulse and heartbeat. He was breathing steadily and she frowned harder. Moving closer she laid down beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

She didn’t move from her spot there, keeping her eyes on him but she wasn’t able to keep it up forever. She found herself dozing off periodically, jolting awake again and again as if he was going to disappear if she took her eyes off him for too long.

Eyes opening slowly Shade grumbled. His eyes felt like lead weights and his head a magnet. But he forced them open and started to sit up but felt her arm keeping him down. Looking at Yumi she was deep asleep. Raising his eyebrow, he smiled then looked at her mouth and laughed, “Really Yu. Drooling on me?”

The moment he spoke she started sitting up right. She blinked at him dizzy and then wiped her mouth making a face. Rubbing her eyes slowly she looked at Shade and then pulled him closer into the tightest hug she’d given him in a long time. His head swam again but he hugged her back.

“You had me fucking scared DJ,” she said into his shoulder.

“You know I had a dream about you,” he mumbled. “You were wearing that outfit from last Halloween. It was nice. I want to go back to that.”

Rolling her eyes, she pulled back and looked at him. She pushed up his hair and saw the bandage. Saw the red spot on it that wasn’t growing, just a prominent reminder. “What happened?”

“Got jumped by some woman doing some errands for Darren. Got sloppy in the fight. My mask decided to do me in. Nothing major.”

“You passed out. Pretty fucking major. I’m gonna find that bitch,” she growled.

“Not on your own you’re not,” Shade told her actually glaring at her this time. She started to look away but he shook his head, “Hey focus here. I’m not letting you go off and do something stupid. Again. Like usual.”

“What’s that supposed to,” She looked down and sighed hard. “Fine. Okay. I’ll wait and we’ll figure out a plan or something. Do what Phase says.”

“Do what Phase says?” Shade raised his eyebrow. “I must really be in bad shape.” He lay back down and let his eyes fall shut. “Man I’m tired.”

“Then sleep. You’re safe now. Especially with me here.”

“Haha. My hero, right?” he whispered and rolled over to the side slowly. She moved to lay beside him and kept her arm around his waist and just lay there. She found herself stirring again though and from the stiffness in her joints she realized that she’d fallen asleep this time for more than a few minutes. Looking over at Shade he had rolled over but was still sleeping. She checked the bandage and the red hadn’t spread.

She kissed his cheek lightly and brushed his hair back before finally forcing herself to get up. Sliding out of the bed she groaned and cracked her legs, walking back into the living room. Echo was there for a moment and she looked at Yumi concerned but she gave her a smile. Climbing over the arm of the chair she sat down and looked over at Feint and Phase who were on the couch.

“He woke up for a bit. Seems okay,” she mumbled. “He’s sleeping now.”

“Good,” Feint sighed. “Darren’s found who attacked them through the footage. They’re trying to figure out who she was but it’ll take a minute.”

“Good. I want to meet them personally,” she cracked her knuckles but paused and looked at Phase. “After coming up with a plan.”

Silence hung over them for a long few minutes and Yumi felt a buzzing in her head. Scratching the back of her head and rubbing her ear the buzzing got louder. She turned and looked at Echo who stared at her intently, “We talked about this Yu. Phase cares.”

“Yeah yeah I know,” she grumbled internally before looking at him. He glanced at her for a moment and frowned.

“Sorry I stormed off earlier.”

“Sorry I didn’t hear you out earlier.”

The pair looked at each other, realizing they spoke at the same time and broke into an easy laugh. Phase shook his head sighing, “It’s fine Yu.”

“Is it?” she asked raising her eyebrow.

“It is. I know you. And you have a point to a degree. If I’m being honest I don’t want us going head to head with the any of the gangs. It’s not our job to stop them from functioning or doing their thing. But that doesn’t mean that we have to ignore people who need help. I know you’re going to try and help as much as you can and telling you to not would be a waste of time.”

Yumi snorted in response to that because they all knew how true that was. “So I’m just going to ask that you don’t go looking for trouble if that’s at all possible for you. And you know what kind of trouble I’m talking about.”

“Don’t go actively hunting the Vanguard, Royals, baby Royals” she said and Phase nodded. “I can do that much.”

“Thank you,” Phase nodded. “I don’t need you getting hurt too.”

Yumi spread her arms and Phase just laughed but they hugged each other tightly, “Thanks for caring leader. I hate being mad at you.”

“Me too Yu,” he told her as they. They hugged a few seconds longer before finally sepearting.

He looked over at Feint and asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go give Darren some more help with finding out who attacked Rogue and Shade,” Feint said standing up. She squeezed Yumi’s shoulder as she passed and Yumi squeezed her hand in response.

“You going back to stay with Shade?” Phase asked.

“I want to but he’s home now. Safe here. I’ll lose my mind watching him sleep anymore,” she said honestly.  “Why?”

“Darren still needs their list taken care of. Feint’s helping them out so the four of us are still hanging around. You in Echo?” he asked looking past her.

She blinked her white eyes at him and then nodded her head, “The more the merrier. I’ll make sure Rogue comes along.”

“Four of us this time?” Rogue said walking back into the living room. “Assuming we don’t get jumped again. Should be a piece of cake.”

“That’s the plan.”

They separated for a few minutes changing clothes into something comfortable and better for the setting sun outside. Feint came back out holding Rogue’s mask. He set it against his face and it booted up comfortably without any issues. She also passed out pouches to all four of them that they wrapped around their waist.

“Darren just needs you to get some good quality copper wire and better batteries,” Feint said and pulled out her phone. “Lucky for you there’s a company that has both of those down town. Sending you the location now. Be careful. Don’t need anyone coming out of nowhere and jumping you guys too.”

“We’ll be careful,” Phase said. “And if something goes wrong we’ll back out and regroup. Everyone ready?”

“Sir yes sir,” Yumi said saluting. Echo and Rogue nodded in affirmation and Phase led the way to the balcony. The sun was starting to set, showing the signs of the struggle to stay up longer like a child being told it was bed time.

Looking out over the neighboring buildings he picked a path in his head and sprinted forward jumping hard to the nearest building. Clearing the air like he was a bird in natural flight he rolled on landing and bounded forward following the path Feint laid out.

The path took them from the roof tops of their neighborhood to buildings that gradually bigger and higher. The satellites, heating pipes, and rooftop doors gave way to smooth and empty rooves with only antennae and birds for company. The subtle noises of old car engines starting up were replaced with angry honks and train horns.

As Phase hopped over the ledge of a building he watched the blur of Yumi passing him by. Watched her jump atop a transformer and flip blasting finger guns his way as she landed backwards and didn’t miss a step, “Come on leader. You’re way too slow!”

Despite her worry for Shade nothing beat the feeling of the air rushing past her ears, the burn of movement in her legs and just moving period. Bounding toward a billboard she jumped and clambered over it crossing the distance between it and her next roof top.

“Eyes up Firebug,” she heard beside her as Rogue darted around her vanishing to a building much taller than she could clear in a jump. Rather than try to climb that easily she darted to the ledge and spread her arms out quickly putting one foot in front of the other. Looking to her right she could see the street dozens of feet below and cars zooming past.

Looking ahead she cast her gaze ahead to a fire escape that would be her goal. She’d be able to jump from the corner onto the platform and climb the stairs to the roof of the apartment and keep going. But before she could get that close her foot snagged on a broken piece and she was sent stumbling to the side.

Looking ahead she cast her gaze ahead to a fire escape that would be her goal. She’d be able to jump from the corner onto the platform and climb the stairs to the roof of the apartment and keep going. But before she could get that close her foot snagged on a broken piece and she was sent stumbling to the side.

Tilting toward the street gravity grabbed hold of her like a toxic lover and dragged her down. Her heart skipped a beat as she grasped futilely toward the ledge but before she could dip too far she was dragged back up toward the ledge. She was swung into Phase’s chest and then back onto the edge of the building.

Her hair swept around her face and she barely got a moment to catch her breath as Phase stepped backwards saluting toward her, “Getting sloppy Yu.”

Pulling him close she stepped around him and pushed him back gently. She jumped back blowing a kiss at him, “Thanks for catching me leader.”

She sprinted to edge of the ledge and jumped clearing toward the fire escape just like she drew it up the first time. Scaling the steps she launched herself up and over the top to the roof.  Walking to the edge she slowed and crouched next to Phase and followed where he was looking.

It was a lab, a big white rectangle of a building with high glass windows. It slanted at a strange angle, the lower angle where the path from the parking lot connected. The lot in question was mostly empty only three or four cars still there. The lights within the lab seemed to be off or at the very least the half that was open to the window.

“Grey and Arch Robotics,” Phase said. “Developer of the AI chips that go in phones and stuff like Alexa.”

“AI? Like Skynet?” Yumi asked.

“No. Its more like predictive software that gets the name of AI,” Echo replied. “People like the idea of AI existing.”

“Or are terrified and driven away,” Rogue said and glanced at the others as they looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing. Just didn’t picture you for the anti-robot brigade,” Yumi said sitting up. Rogue started to say something but let it go. “Anyway. What’s the play? Just boop over with Rogue, whiz wham wozzle us some parts and skedaddle?”

Phase turned to face her and she stared back. The mask hid her features entirely and yet he could feel the smile behind the mask. He wasn’t sure if it was just knowing her so closely or good instincts, “Why are you even remotely like this? But to answer your actual question yes Rogue’s going to teleport us to the roof and business as usual.”

“I love the sound of that,” Echo clapped her hands together and then looked at Rogue. “Can you take us all?”

He walked to the edge of the ledge scanning the street below, the parking lot, looking at the gated off entrance to the parking lot and a security guard in booth. A car pulled out of the parking lot and had to get something like an ID scanned before being allowed to leave the lot.  He spotted a guard at the door pacing back and forth and nodded slowly. “Yeah I can.”

They pressed their hands to his back and then vanished appearing atop the lab. Phase took the lead moving across the roof looking for their usual drop in point for these types of things. A skylight or rooftop window. Even a vent would be good enough but he didn’t have to take the Santa Clause route.

Instead of having to find a window he actually found a better spot. A door hanging out near a corner of the building. Making a beeline for it he swapped the visions spectrums of the mask and pieced through it then glanced at Echo, “Got anything for me?”

“No one is there,” she replied. “There is a guard at the base of the stairs. Not the base base but their route is at the base of the stairs.”

“So, we have to time it,” Phase said nodding quickly.

They walked to the door and she tried to open the door but it was locked which he had expected. Crouching down he touched the door knob and didn’t see an open lock or even a keypad. Just a tall metal door with a silver handle. “Guess they don’t want people coming in from this side.”

“Hey move over. This is definitely my territory,” Yumi said pushing him over to the side and slipping off her gloves. She pressed her hands flat together and rubbed them together quickly which was partially for theatrics but because it got her in the right mindset. Pulling her hands apart she looked at them, seeing the bright orange oven glow. “Warm and cozy.”

 Grabbing the handle she squeezed hard on it and felt the metal warp under her hand. She continued to squeeze and twisted before pulling off the metal husk of a knob and tossed it across the ground. The other half of the knob fell to the ground inside the building. Reaching toward the lock itself she pressed her fingers against the latch.

The heat grabbed onto the latch and after a few moments she had to yank her hand back. Shaking her hand out she could hear the sound of liquid hitting the ground and then looped her fingers through the now empty hole in the door. Pulling it swung outward and she bowed low her hands cooling off.

“Right this way,” she said. The passed by each one by one bowing to her and she took up the rear. Two flights of stairs down they got to the ground floor. The door was locked of course but this time instead of letting Yumi melt this lock too there was a keyhole. He picked it the old fashioned way and it took only a few minutes before it clicked.

Before opening the door, Echo took the lead and had them wait. Holding her hand out she closed her eyes taking a deep breath and held her other hand out like a satellite. They waited as she waved her hand back and forth slowly and then she lowered it. Pointing to the right she said, “Guards gone that way. All clear.”

Pulling the door open they moved together into the hallway. It was a long one with several doors, all closed, a bright exit sign blinking at them. The ground was linoleum and the air was almost as cold inside as it was outside. Glancing at the map Phase held up his hand, “Split up. Me and Yumi are going to grab the batteries. Echo and Rogue the wires. Meet back here. And if anything goes wrong drop what you’re doing and come running.”

Splitting up they moved through the lab their steps echoing. Yumi looked at her boots as they echoed in the room and tried to lift her feet as she went. Shrugging she just doubled down on it as they moved fast. Looking through her mask she saw that their target was just around the corner.

Phase walked through the locked door and unlocked it from the inside and opened for her. Yumi dipped in a curtesy and stepped through. There were tables across the room, a trio of computers on one with parts and papers scattered across the surface. On the other side were electronics being worked on.

He walked toward a shelf nearby and everything was well documented and labeled. Sifting through a few shelves marked batteries he finally found the one that matched the picture provided by Darren because they knew that none of them knew the jargon. Pulling the entire shelf out he pulled out a series of plastic bags.

They took as many batteries as they could which turned out to be a half dozen or so and put them back into their pouches one by one. Once they were taken care of Yumi sighed, “I wish it was always this easy.”

“If it were, it wouldn’t be fun.”

Backing out of the lab they back tracked down the hallway keeping an eye out for a guard. An empty hallway tipped its hat and greeted them as they made their way to the roof. As if on cue Rogue and Echo appeared at their side. Echo patted the pouch around her hip and gave a thumbs up.

Slipping through the door Phase locked it behind them and they climbed the steps two at a time just ready to burst back onto the scene. Once they were on the rooftops Yumi pumped both fists and let out a tiny shout. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Clean in and out. No trouble.”

“I concur,” Echo added smiling and Rogue nodded.

“Good work everyone,” Phase clapped his hands together. “Let’s get back home. Dinner on me tonight.”