Capítulo 7: Tactical Stealth Action
I walk towards the iron gate, casting my eyes at the guard house and the pair of guards staring emptily into space at the compound's entrance. The local government must have been really cutting costs since those guards could only be charitably described as Z grade mall cops. One of them was morbidly obese. I doubt that fat boy was capable of catching any intruder that tried to break into the premises. The other guy looked so old that he belonged in a nursing home rather than playing at being a guard.
Squinting a little, I managed to peer into the guard house and saw that there was actually a third guard sitting inside it. Now this guy might be a little trouble. He was middle aged, but looked like he kept in shape. The red armband on his uniform probably indicated that he was the leader of this crew. A man that I had to be wary of.
Except that he was sound asleep. I am starting to understand why The Voice kept insisting that my mission was low risk. Well time to get to it I suppose. I run through the plan that The Voice had drilled into me during my training.
"The guards at the main entrance are of no consequence. Ignore them and walk past."
I make my way to the iron gate and as senior citizen's gaze sweeps over me, I notice something. His face suddenly goes slack and his eyes become glazed over. He then tries to avoid looking at me, going as far as noticeably turning his head away. Fat boy realizes that something is wrong and moseys over to investigate. The moment he catches sight of me, the exact same thing happens, face goes slack, expression becomes completely blank. Was this what The Voice was talking about? People not willing to accept the truth of my existence?
I stop in front of senior citizen and he does a complete 180 to avoid looking at me. Wow. The Voice wasn't joking about people doubling down on their beliefs.
"Stop playing around." A familiar rasp barks out in my ear. Right. Right. But at least now I am sure that The Voice knew what it was talking about and was not just full of shit.
I step through the main entrance (the third guy was asleep throughout the whole thing). Well that is stage 1 of my perilous quest complete. Now I have to conquer the container maze to reach the second perimeter wall protecting my target. As I wait for a drone reach stacker to trundle past, bleeping away to warn others of its presence, I orient myself in the general direction of the target warehouse and continue pushing forward.
Whenever I met anyone in my path, their eyes would promptly glaze over and they would studiously avoid looking at me. It was as if the entire world was in a conspiracy to deny my existence. The only thing I had to watch out for were the reach stackers that were driving about or moving the containers. I would not deny that my "condition" was useful, but it was unnerving nonetheless.
After several twists and turns, I reached the second perimeter wall. The Voice had told me that getting past this one was going to be more of a challenge.
"The second perimeter wall is protected by the demon guards. With their trained spirituality, they will not shy away from your presence. Linger in front of them for too long and they will uncover your true nature. You will need guile to get past them."
The demon guard at the second perimeter wall check point looks largely human, completely unlike the impression I got from the horror slide show The Voice had screened for me. The only concession the guard makes to his otherworldly nature are a pair of fluffy cat ears on the top of his head. Combined with his sharp black suit and katana (of course it had to be a katana) hanging from his waist, I dare say that the guard looked quite dashing, and I don't even swing that way.
The guard's eyes glaze over the moment he sees me. However he does not turn away. Instead I see him visibly struggle to maintain his focus on me. All of a sudden his expression suddenly clears up and his eyes snap onto me, fully alert.
"Use their own preconceptions against them. I will provide you with the standard uniform Belial Logistics hands over to its employees. The guards upon discovering your presence will provisionally accept that you are a member of the staff instead of an extra dimensional outsider."
"Just like that? Isn't that a bit too much?" I query.
"Just like that. Which would you rather believe: a literal alien to your world trying to break into a warehouse or an employee arriving late for his shift?"
"You are late." The guard drones in a bored voice. "I don't recognize you either."
"I'm new here" I reply apologetically. I hand over the bogus ID to the guard.
"To drive the illusion home, present to the guards this fake employee pass. It states that you are a drone technician. Conveniently, the drone maintenance and control station is located behind the second perimeter wall. The guards will jump at such a simple answer to the anomaly standing in front of them."
The guard grunts after taking a glance at the bogus ID and hands it back to me. He waives me past the check point. However, his eyes are kept pinned on me.
I smile nervously. "Just because my jumpsuit has the letters BL does not mean I swing that way man. Not that you are not handsome or anything like that."
The guard's lips quirk upwards and he turns away. I breathe a sigh of relief. Second perimeter wall down.
I once more make my way through the container maze, taking care not to stop too long in front of any of the patrolling guards. Aside from a few empty expressions along the way, I make it to the final wall without incident. Despite my earlier misgivings, this whole mission is really just like a tutorial you would receive at the start of any game. I can see why The Voice refused to shell out for cheat abilities or waifus if this was all I needed to do.
Alright. Final wall. What did The Voice say about this one?
"The guards at the final wall have been instructed to let only a set of known personnel past the security check point. As you are obviously not on that list, your disguise will do you no good here. Thankfully, they have deployed most of their manpower at the second perimeter wall, leaving the guards at the final wall shorthanded. All you need to do is to wait for the guards at the check point to leave to go on patrol. Once that happens, sneak past them and enter the warehouse."
Easy enough. I lurk behind one of the container towers and wait for the guards at the checkpoint to leave.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
Then I realize something.
They have no intention of leaving their post.
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