It had taken a while for Gaunt to figure out how to recover after the WayneTech debacle. Psyman's goof had alerted the authorities to what had been copied, and they'd been on the lookout for it. He'd had to sell the designs to a company in Pakistan for a fraction of what they were worth. Not ideal, but it was one of the few countries with loose enough copyright protection to let it slide.
But now, things were different. He had an actual professional thief on the payroll now, soon to be a full-fledged member if this went well. To top things off, he had a new plan. A little inside info could go a long way on the stock market, and info with no reliable way to track it was even better. WayneTech would be on the lookout, but Lexcorp might not be. He was banking on that, and her skills.
Gaunt had sent her a text, telling Catastor where to meet. He stood in the alley, about ten minutes early. Better to be prompt for these things. The Nosferatu leaned against the wall, waiting for the thief to show up.
Catastor checked her phone, and her things. She smiled petting her dogs, she doubted that she would need them but better safe than sorry, before storing them away into the eleventh dimension along with a few other things. She had five minutes till she had to be there. One last check she turned her mind toward the beautiful numbers touching them. It felt like she was moving though water almost before coming out the other side. It took four more times before she landed in the alleyway.
Nos was waiting. Catastor bowed apologetically, "I do hope I didn't keep you waiting long." She stood looking at Nos, she remembered his accent and it took a little bit of concentration still to understand. "You texted about having a job for me?" She tried to think of where they were, all she really knew were the X,Y,Z coordinates not really they were in the city. A pain but she didn't feel like learning those maps.
Catastor dropped down nearby, immediately apologizing for being late. Gaunt pulled out his phone, quickly fact-checking her. "Not at all, Catastor. Right on time in fact. I just showed up a little early tonight in case there were complications." He pocketed the phone, straightening up and stepping away from the wall.
Gaunt headed towards the target, signaling for Catastor to follow. He kept ahead of her, talking as he walked. "The job's simple enough. Sneak into Lexcorp, check around a bit. Look for designs, projected profits, anything that could show future success or failure. We're not here for the designs themselves, just the basic ideas. Photos will do. Don't take time to copy any files. And most importantly, no evidence you were there. No tampering with cameras or anything like that." He almost cringed at the memory. Sure, Catastor was a pro, but one could never be too careful. Gaunt turned back to face her once they got close enough. "Alright, any questions before you head in?"
Catastor nodded, there was always a chance for error in their line of work. She frowned when he turned away from her and she assumed started talking. She was about to interrupt when he turned and ask if she had any questions. "Could you repeat that please, and face me? It seems Lancer was being a good fence and keeping my issue to himself; you see Mr. Nos I have 99% percent hearing loss in both my ears." Catastor smiled remorsefully. "So if you could please say that again so I could read your lips, that would be most appreciated. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but that's how it is." Her watched his face carefully, she didn't normally share this, but then she was considered is a show of faith that she was thinking about joining his group. Employers needed to know such things, clients didn't. "I do hope this doesn't change anything Mr. Nos."
Well, this was unexpected. Catastor must have been some sort of a wizard of lip-reading, able to hide her condition so well. It gave him a newfound respect for Lancer, keeping secrets like that. He would have to work with the guy more. "No problem at all. This is the Rat's Nest, we've all got our own issues. I'll talk face to face from now on."
Gaunt went on to repeat his instructions, thinking carefully to make sure he didn't miss anything. "Alright, that should be it. We'll keep radio silence to avoid detection, but if things go pear-shaped I'll be ready to bust in and provide backup. Any other questions before we get started?" Gaunt gave a quick glance at the facility. It was a quiet night, and most of the guards weren't being all that attentive. It seemed that Lexcorp hadn't learned from WayneTech's mistakes after all.
"Most, appreciated, Mr. Nos." This was good to hear. Points were to be earned in that category "So look but don't touch, simple enough. One question do you have any blueprints I could look at for a few minutes?" It was so much easier to do the calculation and not run into walls if she new where the walls where. She could carefully map out the inside of a building by hanging out in the eleventh dimension, but it was tedious time consuming work. Security was not something you ever jumped into randomly unless you want the whole block to know were there. "If not we may have to comeback another day, I'd have to map everything out by hand and that takes time."
Gaunt grinned. She was a professional to the core. Gaunt rummaged through a backpack, pulling out a document case. "This should have all you need. Got these from their security contractor. Should show the coverage areas of their surveillance systems, too. Take the time you need, we've got all night." He handed the case over, stepping back to give her time to work.
"I'll be right here. If there's a mess, I'll be the diversion while you get the [REDACTED] outta dodge. Rendezvous back here when you're done, and we'll head back to the Warren to review your findings." He would have to figure out her cut for this. This was something he could sell to multiple buyers, so it could be quite a haul.
"Many thanks Mr. Nos." Catastor grinned sitting down on ground, she pulled out papers carefully unfurling them. Her mind was raising as coordinates appeared before here along with formals; ignoring those she focused on what was on her to look at list. The lab was a quick look, but no more; corporate seemed to be the idea, she turned the page looking at the upper level offices. Executive office, Projects and accounting. It took her a few minutes of studying before she had what she wanted memorized.
Carefully she wrote down things on her note pad, and labeled a few things, before rolling back up the papers. Carefully she slipped them into storage. "If you don't mind I'll hold onto those till I get back out, just in case. A map is always good to have. If you will excuse me." Catastor took her hood off, storing it, and bowed before disappearing suddenly.
She reappeared carefully in the middle a very small blind spot in the lab. She looked around taking note of an interesting looking weapon before teleporting to the next spot. She was glade to not have the extra fabric as it would had moved and set stuff off. Lexcorp was a lot more annoying than the museum had been.
The lab hadn't been very uses full aside from the interesting looking rocket. Castastor took her note pad out quickly sketching the shape and writing down the numbers, before crossing the lab off. Next was accounting.
Fortunately no one, not eve the great Lexcorp, was that obsessive over their good books; it was the cooked one that were hard to get. She was interested into those. Carefully she opened the filing cabinet. and pulled out a folder setting it on the table. With a thought the file disappeared and in its place was file of equal shape but was filled with numbers. Quickly she shuffled though taking pictures before closing it. She swapped the files again and replace the one she took out. Numbers done.
She moved onto to the executive's offices, not there was much there aside from a very interesting defense contract. Messy people were the best, they left everything important right out in the open, she took a quick pick then looked in RnD. That was very intresting. She had to pull her swap trick a few times and disappear when a guard passed, by not that it was a problem. With one last picture she put back the folders exactly where she found them.
The watery feeling passed over her as she appeared in the allay again. Tenderly she upped out the blue print tube handing it back to him. "It turned out I didn't need them. I found some interesting stuff, there were a few guard I had a near miss with, but they didn't see anything." She glanced down the alley carefully, there was such thing alarms and she couldn't hear guards. She wanted to leave, just to be sure she hadn't messed up. It was rare but mistakes did happen. "Perhaps we should talk else were Mr. Nos."
Gaunt leaned against the wall, keeping a lookout while Catastor studied. She was dedicated, poring over the schematics like her life depended on it. It very well could, but that was beside the point. After a few minutes, she stood and dismissed herself. Gaunt opened his mouth to speak, but by the time he did, she was already gone. "Bloody teleporters." he muttered, smiling to himself.
Gaunt shimmered out of sight, moving around the corner to watch the building while he waited. The next few minutes were pretty quiet. The guards went about their usual patrols, surveillance cameras panned back and forth, and there wasn't a peep from security. Catastor seemed to be doing a lot better than her predecessor.
In a matter of minutes, Catastor reappeared in the alley. Gaunt stepped out of sight of the compound, reappearing in a puff of odorless smoke. "Thank you kindly." He took the document case, putting it back in his backpack. "Come on, I'll show you to the public section of the Warren." Gaunt headed off, gesturing for her to follow.
Their journey started with an abandoned subway. Gaunt picked the padlock on the gate, locking it again after they were in. The two of them ventured inside, down to the tracks and off down the tunnel. Within a few minutes they had arrived at a rusted old maintenance door. Gaunt opened up a panel next to it, revealing a keypad and intercom. "Nos here with the temp. Buzz us in." A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a very nice underground boardroom. Gaunt set himself up at the head of the table, taking out a laptop and setting it up. "Let's see those pictures of yours, shall we?"
Catastor followed dilligantly, her mind couldn't figure out where they were, but was a might good thing she supposed, she wasn't part of the group, yet. The young telelporter sat down at his left handing him the camera and passing her drawing of the missile she had seen and the vin number she had written down, watching as he plugged in and her pictures popped up on screen. Her eyes took in everything listing to the numbers on the pages she had taken pictures of, filling in spots that were too dark or blurred. Mentally she wrote down to get a document scanner they were much nicer than a camera, but it seemed she had done a nice enough job. "I got a look a the accounts, but I can't speak for how cooked they might be. There were a few government contracts, not sure how in date those are. RnD though seemed very promising. And they were building this." She tapped the pad before sitting back while still trying to have a good view of his face. "I apologize if I missed somethings, I don't normally get this type of job."
Gaunt went over the intel she'd gathered. It was some pretty good stuff. Reports, schematics, all sorts of handy-dandy things. It would fetch a pretty good price. "Everything appears to be in order. You'll get a commission and a percentage of the price we get for this." He closed the laptop, grinning. His smile wasn't a pleasant thing, putting a row of nasty sharp teeth on display.
Gaunt stood, looking into his backpack again. "You want your payment in cash, or transferred to a bank account?" He'd brought enough emergency cash to cover her commission, and a little extra just in case. "I think this went pretty well. If you're up for it, I'd like you to be a full-time member. Monthly stipend, living quarters if you want it, and commissions for jobs. What you say?"
"If you have the commission payment in cash, I have an account you can transfer the percentages into; it will give me a time to make it look all lineament." She took back her note pad scribbling down a twelve digit number, before passing the paper back to him. Smiling. His looks didn't bother her much, she had worked for worse in Tokyo; this was Jump City one of the major hubs for Metas, this really wasn't anything unexpected.
She paused a moment tapping her pencil against the table thinking, she looked over at him, offering her unclawed hand and nodded. "Sure, this is a nice set up, much better than freelance work; having someone to watch your back is always comforting. If you have jobs like this for me, then we shouldn't have a problem, though, forewarning, I do keep a normal life so I may not get back to you right away. If it is really time sensitive I have a second number for you. I trust you won't abuse."
Gaunt pocketed the note and took out a bag from his backpack. Counting the money out carefully, he loaded it into the bag for her. "Alright, there's the commission. We'll make the transfer once we got our payment." He pushed the bag across the table. "You can count it out if you want." He didn't ask, but Gaunt was a little curious as to how her math powers would affect her counting speed.
Gaunt shook her hand, smiling. "Great. If it's an emergency and we can't reach you we still have other agents to deploy, but I'll keep that in mind. Wanna see the main base now or later?" Gaunt started clearing things off the table as he spoke, setting it aside. Then he picked up the conference table, leaning it against the wall. His spindly fingers slipped into a hidden latch in the floor, opening a panel with a ladder under it.
Catastor nodded dismissing her claw as she pulled out the stacks of cash flipping through them, before setting them a side, then began form a cube, only flipping though the stacks long enough to see them all as 100's before setting it aside. Once the bag of empty Catastor nodded satisfied that the fifty grand was all there. With a glance she stored the bills away writing down where she put them to remember re-catalog them later. "A tour right now is fine, there are no pressing matters waiting for me." The cloaked teen stood following him over the hole before looking at Mr. Nos. "Lead the way."
As expected, she flipped through it like a true number wizard. Catastor seemed pretty satisfied with her take. As a matter of fact, she seemed satisfied with their whole arrangement. Gaunt shouted down into the hole. "We're coming down, close it up after us." Gaunt dropped down, landing standing.
Gaunt led her in, turning to face Catastor. "The other agents are out right now. Don't mind the blokes running around, those are the Renfields. They handle the simple stuff." Gaunt gave her the full tour. It was pretty comfortable for an underground base. Dormitories, full kitchen, a couple break rooms, armory, and of course the security center. A full base, completely off the grid.
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Alviss: Darn doesn't show the pic
Apr 18, 2019 7:10:17 GMT -6
force: miss this place. if anyone comes back and sees this, i'm force, i was kid flash here once. you can find me on discord at rook#9485
Jan 12, 2023 13:11:35 GMT -6
The roleplay takes place after the series end of the original Teen Titans animated show, but does not include the movie Trouble in Tokyo. Since then Robin has been on something of a recruiting spree, and many new young heroes have found themselves a home in Jump City as well as Titan Tower.
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