The wind roared at my ears as gravity grappled at me. 

I twisted my body to face the hotel that I jumped off, then placed my palms (protected by technologically enhanced gloves with built in heat, rope burn and friction resistance) and forefeet onto the exterior to decelerate.

I skidded on the building and steered the direction to a lower apartment by directing my heels, aided by my mana.

As soon as my feet met the roof, I rebounded to grip a horizontal scaffold pole and began swinging slowly, soon I gained so much momentum I started spinning.

I let go- 

And soared across a seemingly impossible distance.

My laughter was heard by none other than myself.

I felt free.

I felt exhilarated.

I somersaulted mid-air and crashed dived onto a rooftop of another apartment.

“Hooh-” I stretched my hands.

After getting up I quietly cracked my finger joints then swung my shoulders in a circular motion.

Damn. How could I have forgotten to warm up, especially today out of all days?!

I internally cursed.

Sprinting, I took out a grappling hook from my pocket.

POW- 

I shot the hook, it punctured another building adjacent to my target with great accuracy.

CLICK

After pressing the trigger again, it retracted, bringing myself to the building.

Due to the speed I ran, I swung further than the hooked building, as the rope reeled in.

I didn’t miss the moment-

I pulled out another grappling hook from my other pocket and shot.

POW-

Double clicking the first grappler, the claw let go and reeled itself to me instead.

I pressed the other’s trigger to retract.

Safely arriving at the building security’s blind spot as informed by Lucas, I carefully removed the glass pane with a laser, discarded it into my dimensional pocket and without further ado, I entered through the window.

***

LACEY’S POV 

I pulled up my jacket collar higher as I walked down the street, taking in as much as I could.

I stopped at a red light.

Elijah, as planned, had separated to roam around randomly outside to gather information outside of Lucas’s range while I was tasked with infiltrating the corporate as an employee. 

While I walked down the street I couldn’t help but feel on edge, surrounded by so many people, even though they didn’t pay much attention to me.

The red light switched to a green light.

I crossed the road, unusually nervous.

I trained day and night to maintain composure under pressure, but it was all in vain now, the unease crept up my skin regardless of any practise.

The feeling only intensified when I made it to the building in question.

I pushed open the glass doors as the workers inside turned to me.

I felt so exposed as they eyed me up and down.

Despite this, I forced a smile to my face.

A woman who seemed to be in charge of the rest got up from her seat at the reception and said curtly, “I wasn’t aware there we supposed to be any… visitors….”

“I’m a transferred employee from a different branch, from the Human Resources department.”

I calmly explained, flashing my forged ID.

She snatched it, squinting, before reluctantly handing it back after a minute or so of inspection.

She mumbled, “Looks a bit to young…”

But to my relief swatted her hand at me, “BAH! Fine! Go go.” 

Thank god Stacy taught me to school my expression and Elijah taught me to lie shamelessly.

I’m in. Now, where can I access the building plan..

Lucas didn’t come back to me with it.

Ah. But before that…

I walked up to a friendly looking woman happily working away.

My first target.

It didn’t take much time to get the general idea of the building's structure.

Although smart, Lucas couldn’t completely hack the buildings surveillance with only the aid of a specially prepared USB specially equipped with cyber attack resources.

But this was made up with his skills.

He had spent most of his time training after all.

Lucas connected to my ear bud, “I sent you something.”

I casualty took out my phone and checked the inbox.

*Insert buildings structure*

I scanned it, before folding it and shoving it in my pocket.

The red circle was the router I needed to plug the USB in.

Hmm. 

That actually wasn’t too far away. Great.

Once I’ve finished that task, all I had to do was blend in amongst the employees and see if anyone needed help.

But this kind of seemed too easy to be true…

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The speaker box called out, “Intruder alert, we have two unidentified individuals in the building, please find and discard them through any means.”

Ah… There it was.

Looks like Asher got in.

Haizz- Id only I could use that.

“Nnghh-” I groaned to myself, I thought I wouldn’t be vulnerable without it but I was wrong.

Now, I was in real-life endangerment, despite what I would like to admit, horribly wrong.

I knew I was going to overestimate myself.

I wasn’t good at combat without it.

But I can’t go find Asher to protect me either because if we both get caught, we are both screwed.

So my best chances lay within hiding.

Just as I was about to sneak away to hide somewhere…

The speaker voiced, “Employees, assemble in the main break room, we are going to do a pat down.”

Aw, come on! You’ve got to be kidding me man!

I reluctantly tailed a hord of workers exiting the lobby.

Oh wait…

I needed to hide my USB-

Shoot.

I was going to turn back but a sudden swarm of people joined the crowd and pushed me along.

Ah. I’m… screwed.

Wait. What if I could have one of them hide it?

No. That would be too risky. 

I can’t afford anyone sensing the unique mana that came with summoning them.

I discarded my plan, shaking my head.

Unfortunately my thinking time had come to an end.

I raised my head to see glass doors, similar to the one at the entrance of the building and the room that lay behind it.

It was swarmed with security personnel.

CLICK-

The door soon locked behind me, trapping a couple hundred at the very least inside.

Hmm. They said “all employees”. I guess only low leveled ones could be afforded to suspected.

I clutched the USB tightly in my pocket, stuck in a predicament.

This mission, my friends, and our grades or my secret?

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart beat began to grow increasingly erratic as a guard approached. 

“Everyone please place your ID on the table, we need to verify its authenticity.”

This mission, my friends, and our grades or my secret?