On the Prowl Issue 3: Preparation

        Successful larceny of a high security facility, be it a mansion, penthouse, laboratory, or anything else, comes down to many factors working in tandem.  Scouting is one of the most important factors as it lets you gauge what equipment is needed for the heist.    After that, it's a matter of getting the equipment.

        There are a few places in New York you can get your hands on black hat technology, but not all of them are created equal.  Sure, some guys might get you a piece of repurposed and scrubbed Stark tech occasionally, but if you want the best gear you get it custom ordered.

        That's why it's wise to get chummy with someone like Phineus Mason.

        "You need the ability to pick two locks in unison is what you're telling me?"   Hardy, Mason, and I were looking over the security blueprints to Hammer's penthouse.  This was hardly a unique scenario, but the degree of difficulty with the problem needed a unique touch.

        "Pretty much.  The biometric scanners are in his own bedroom, so lifting finger and handprints from both Hammer and his butler should be easy.  The locks are a different matter.  On top of that we need something that will disable the physical security inside the vault."  The equipment was the only part of this equation I was going to need assistance with.  Hammer's place was hardly a fortress, more an average rich jerk's place with some slightly advanced security.  Fortunately most of it was badly implemented; as if Hammer hired someone to design his security layout because he saw it in a movie.

        "And leaving should be easy as pie," Felicia chimed in.  "He's got a ring of balconies we can rappel down onto the building roof."

        "Assuming the wire can hold you," I murmured under my breath.  ”But yeah, that vault is really our only problem.  Biometrics are easy, but I'm not relying on Hardy here's abilities to crack a lock open in unison with mine.  Plus there's getting security to authorize its opening without Hammer to give the order."

        "That part is easy," Mason piped up.  "A small EMP charge over the main vault pins would bypass authorization.  That's why they have hand print scanners and physical key authorization as well.  I can rig the charge to be used after the other two are bypassed."

        "Small enough to carry?" I asked.  Every time I've seen an EMP used in the past, they were pretty large.  I already had Felicia as a huge mass of dead weight on this job, I didn't need more.  Mason smirked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose before pulling out a case no bigger than a cassette tape.

        It's how people used to listen to music.

        "Hmm, small packages doing big things.  There's a switch," Felicia purred.  "That leaves the key entry, and despite Hobie's lack of confidence in my ability to handle a lockpick, "she said, smirking at her own innuendo, “I agree that we need a solution that would pick them both in unison."

        "I can handle that, but I need something first..."

______________________________________________

        Probably the most pervasive form of currency in the criminal world is favors.  Cash and jewels are our product; we acquire them for a living.  If you want someone else to scratch your back, you need to scratch theirs.  Often times they'll ask you to do something outside your wheelhouse in an attempt to chase you off.  Fortunately for me, Phineus knew my strengths as an infiltrator and larcenist and asked me to procure something for him.  It's not out of the ordinary for a thief to commit a bit of burglary to prepare for a bigger job.  Though tonight's heist only benefited mine by getting Mason's cooperation; I had zero interest in the item in question and it wouldn't end up helping me on my future job.

        Rand-Meachum Incorporated had recently developed a new series of WIDS (wireless intrusion detection systems for those who don't know what Google is) and Phineus wanted the specifications on them.  Because of the nature of SIGINT (Google it) people cracking new security algorithms was always a matter of when rather than if.  Mason wanted a head start by getting the exact specifications of the algorithm before they even got close to market.  He asked Hardy and me to infiltrate Rand-Meachum and swipe them.  However, I decided to take point on this.  Couldn't risk Fat Cat getting her ass stuck in a vent.

        "R&D lab is on level twelve, Hobester," Hardy's voice rang in my ear.  Hated having her in my head, but her experience with the job made her better off site support than Mason.  Plus she sure as shit knew we needed he tinkering bastard's assistance on the job, so she had stakes in my success.

        "In position."  I took a knee, scouting with my eyes the various potential entry points on the building.  Roof had too much physical security: cameras, motion detectors, two guards.  A left over window washing platform was at the top as well.  An open series of windows were on the eleventh floor.  Running a finger on the side of my mask, I turned on my EMF vision to see their magnetic alarms deactivated.  Was a warm September night and likely they lowered the air conditioning in the building during off hours.  Rand-Meachum was a particularly green company in most matters.

        Save the planet; make an opportunity for the opportunistic.

        "I've got an infiltration point.  Deploying drone."  Removing a small device from my gauntlet, I placed it on the ground and turned it on.  It unfolded into a small rotor camera.  What can I say?  I was a bit of a hobbyist in my spare time.

        "Boys and their toys," Cat purred in my ear.  Switching my mask over to camera view, I hovered the small drone across the street and discreetly scouted the window's room for occupants.  It appeared to be an office for an engineer, but contained one lazy guard reading a magazine with his back to the window.  The door in the room was latched; the guy was trying to sneak some time away from his patrol.  I love lazy guards.

        Discreetly parking the drone on the inside of the window, I switched back to my actual vision and spun the dial on my gauntlets.  Taking aim and compensating for wind, I fired a wire line into the concrete above the window.  The guard looked up briefly and behind him, not spotting myself two floors up, not the wire line.  He turned around as I spun my gauntlets to a non-lethal riot control round.  Think bean bag rounds, but way more aerodynamic.  Taking an aim at the guy, I fired and immediately jumped, grabbing the zip line.  The round whistled through the air, striking him in the meaty portion of his back.  He fell forward and flat on the ground.  He began to lift himself off the ground, still completely winded and stunned, just as I swung into the window.

        I crossed the room quickly, clasping my hand over his mouth while grabbing his shoulder with the other.  Digging my claws into his brachial plexus for pain compliance, I yanked him to his feet.  I hated getting hands on with someone, but sometimes it was prudent to.  "Keep quiet," I whispered, waiting to hear if anyone might have heard the scuffle.  After a few moments of nothing, I was confident my entrance went unnoticed.  "I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth.  Call out for help and they won't like what they find..."  I pulled claw away, wiggling the razor blades on my hand to punctuate that point.

        "You son of a bitch," the guard cursed quietly.

        "It's not wise to talk that way about someone's mother when they could claw your eyes out," I threatened with a growl.  As much as I hated hurting guards, I did enjoy messing with their heads.  Establishing dominance while applying pain compliance was an effective tactic.

        "Go ahead, I have two," he snapped back.  This was a feisty one.

        "I'm heading upstairs to R&D.  How many guards are on the next floor?"

        "Fifty, all of them ninjas in Iron Man suits," he snapped.  For such a lazy guard he was really flippant.

        "Well, I suppose I'll have to give them something to do on a lower floor, won't I?  Like the first floor," I smirked under my mask.

        "What?"

        "You know, it's not true what they say.  You don't black out from fallout multiple stories.  You're awake the whole way down.  You even feel that pain from the impact for a split second," I whispered, curling my claw into his shoulder nerve on the word pain.

        "I-I..."  There it was.  "Fine, there's five guards, two stationed in security.  Just don't kill me..."

        "Deal," I said, flexing two of my fingers on my claw.  An electric taser charge hummed and went through the guy, seizing all his muscle until he blacked out.  I lowered him to the ground and checked his breathing.  Out cold, would have some burns from the shock and wake up feeling like hammered shit, but otherwise he'd be fine.

        "Took you long enough to get him to spill his guts," Felicia criticized.

        "Like you could do better," I shot back, heading to the door.  I cracked it a bit to check the hallway.  "How would you make him talk?  Threaten to eat the building's supply of donuts?"

        "For starters," she purred in my ear.  "There should be a phone room on this floor.  Down the hall, fourth door on the right."  I opened the door and slunk my way down the hall, checking corners for cameras.  Stopping at the door, I retrieved a set of lock picks.  Standard pin tumbler; easy money.  After a good twenty seconds at the lock the pins caught into place the plug turned, opening the door.  Reaching down my thigh pocket, I pulled out an electronic pick and plugged it into the wireless network.  "Mmm, beautiful.  I've got physical security coming up."

        "I can turn that off," Mason's nasally chirp called out in my ear.  "Head south to the emergency stairwell.  The fire alarm will be off by the time you get there."

        "If you wanted to share a keyboard and personal space you just had to ask, Mason," Cat flirted with Phineus.  Oh gawd.

        "Heading to the stairwell," I called out.  Heading back to the hall I started toward the stairwell when I heard footfalls.  Two guards heading my way.  Thinking quickly on my feet I scrambled up the wall, loosening a ceiling tile.  If you ever want to avoid notice, get height on the other people.  People don't look up, which is kind of depressing on a philosophical level.  I slid in, flattening myself on the ceiling above the dropped ceiling by plunging both hands into the concrete while hooking my feet under the wiring poles.  I slid the ceiling tile mostly back into place as I heard a man and a woman talking below.

        "I realize military and SHIELD contracts are lucrative, but I just feel we could be investing out time in other sectors beyond creating weapons and defense," the male voice said.  Hanging there was serious strain on my ankles, but this is why I exercised three times daily.

        "Danny, having a bleeding heart is charming at all, but I need you to be pragmatic here," the woman replied.

        "I am, Joy.  Totally pragmatic.  One hundred percent automatically prag."  I cursed under my breath as I realized they had chosen to stop right below me to chat.

        "That was painful," Felicia chimed in.

        "I don't think that's the etymology of the word," the woman below responded.

        "Neither do I, but it was fun to say."  I heard them begin moving again.  "Listen, let me set up a meeting with Max.  He has some stuff you should see.  Real 'blow your mind' stuff that can help regular people without actually blowing your mind like the military stuff we make."

        "Fine.  I'll humor y..."  Finally, they were gone.  I slid the ceiling panel aside and dropped down, hearing the joints in my legs pop upon landing.  I slid the panel back into place and quickly but quietly made my way to the stairwell.  True to his word, Mason had turned off the fire alarm on the door.  I climbed up a floor two steps at a time, arriving at the door.

        I want to say something about doors.  Doors are the worst.  It doesn't matter if you're a criminal or a cop, more people die in doorways than anywhere else on Earth.  Well, except maybe the Savage Land; lots of people die there.  I've never been, but I've heard stories.  But I digress, doors are a narrow passage that are wide enough to fit maybe two people or one Black Cat, they're often plugged by doors you can't see through and don't know what's on the other side, and there's always an alarm or booby trap rigged on them.  You can be cautious, take your time, and have all the gadgets in the world to look on the otherwise, but ultimately doorways are always going to be a gamble.

        "Mmkay, Hobester.  Alarm disengaged....  Now," Felicia purred as the lock disengaged with a thunk.  Immediately, I heard a male on the other utter a "huh?" quizzically.  Great; just fuckin' great.  I slumped my shoulders depressed and took a step back, bouncing on the balls of my feet to limber up.  This was going to hurt.

        The door started to push open and I immediately kicked off the stair railing, launching myself at the opening and tackling the guard on the other side.  I clipped my shoulder on the door edge, and almost immediately the guard punched me in the ribs as we hit the ground.  Shrugging it off, I dropped a knee on top of the guard's elbow and pinned his other arm with one of my claws.  I felt the guy curl his knee in an attempt to strike my tail bone, but he stopped when I hovered my free claw above his face and activated the taser, electricity crackling right above his mouth.

        "Who are you?  What're you doing here?" I asked him forcefully.

        "Huh?" He went from angry to confused.  "What?  What're you doing here?!"

        "I asked you first!"  I heard Felicia start laughing in my ear.

        "I'm part of Rand-Meachum Security!"

        "No, I'm Rand-Meachum Security!" I dipped my mask in close to his face and glared.  "If you're Rand-Meachum Security, prove it!  How many guards are on this floor?"

        "There are...  HEY!  You're not Security!"  Idiot.

        "Crap, you saw through my ruse.  I'm not security, so why don't you tell me what I want to know anyway or I'll resort to electroshock therapy..."

        "...Shit...  F-fine, there are four including me."

        "So three.  Good to know," I said, grabbing his face and shocking him unconscious.  Hardy was in full on belly laugh mode in my ear.  "You mind shutting up?  Hard to hear any oncoming guards with you laughing and snorting like a pig in my ear."

        "Oh man, I forgot how quick you are with interrogation," she snorted and continued laughing.  I was tempted to take out my ear piece, but I just made my way to the R&D lab.  Along the way I ran into guard two of four.  Waiting around the corner I jumped him and put him in a choke hold before tossing him in an empty office.  Luckily for me he had on him a keycard.  Fishing a door wedge out, I jammed the door shut from the outside.  Security door jams were cheap and very useful in this line of work, be it buying time as a guard tries to get through a door or funneling them in a certain direction.

        Borrowing keys is often a good strategy.  This includes traditional keys, keycards, handprints, retinas, etcetera.  Sometimes you had to drag an entire person around to get through a checkpoint.  Fortunately security tended to get lax the higher the floor. With a quick swipe of a card I was in their signals R&D lab.  The floor seemed quiet; no eggheads here for the evening.

        "Cameras on a loop, so you're free to move around freely, handsome."  Taking Felicia's word for it, I just waltzed right over to a nearby terminal and plugged in my ICE pick.  It's basically a device designed to automatically bypass systems security.  A series of binary numbers appeared on screen before giving me access to the Rand-Meachum server.  A few keystrokes and it began downloading the required files.  Were it Cat, she would have stolen every file like the glutton she is.  However the client asked for one thing, so the client is getting that one thing.

"I'd appreciate it if you stepped away from the console."  Looking up I was greeted by a blond haired man in a very expensive business suit with his hands in his pockets.

        "We don't all get what we want," I replied, discreetly changing my gauntlet to taser rounds.  His stance said he knew martial arts, but how much I couldn't tell.  Certainly was confident enough to confront a costume type. 

        "Tell you what, unplug that and leave it on the counter and I'll let you go.  Seems like a good compromise."

        "Sorry, I have to decline.  I'm not one to disappoint clients.  Appreciate the offer, though."  I kept my eyes locked on the guy.  We both stared each other down, waiting to see who would make the first move.  Next to me the computer beeped, causing me to glance over and see the download was complete.

        And I promptly got a foot to the face.

        Dazed but ready, I did a handspring behind a table.  Kicking off the floor to the side, I slid my back along the desks to keep out of sight.  This guy was fast and certainly skilled.

        "He's heading for the drive, Prowler.  Don't let him get it," Cat instructed.  Certainly couldn't let him take my prize from me.  Dipping lower to the ground, I aimed my gauntlet at his ankle and fired.  The taser round struck him above the ankle, sending his body seizing and to his knees.  Taking the opportunity, I jumped over the desk and brought down an electrified claw on his head.

        He grabbed my wrist and threw me like a rag doll, using my momentum against me.  I felt the corner of the desk impact me square in the back and rolled off the desk.  Even after a taser round he was still at one hundred percent.  He was either powered or just a tough son of a bitch.

        "Ow," I let slip, holding my back.

        "Ditto," my opponent added, moving to kick me in the face...  I was outclassed here, but I'm no slouch.  Spinning onto my side, I quickly grabbed his ankle with both hands.  Without giving him a chance to retaliate, I set a charge of electricity through his body again and again.  The martial artist hit the ground like a ton of bricks, but for good measure I hit him with a tranq dart in the neck.  His face fell onto the floor and he stopped moving.

        "Sleep tight, jerk."  Getting up slowly and feeling the blows I had received, I grabbed the prize.  "I've got it, beginning exfiltrati-" I suddenly felt myself get body slammed onto the ground hard.  Damn it.

        "That doesn't belong to you," he said, reaching for the flash drive in my hand.  With my free one I lifted my thumb.

"Touch it and I detonate the bombs I attached to your guards,” I threatened.  He immediately stopped and stepped back, not confident he could reach my other hand before I pressed the button.

        That is if I had a button.  I was totally bluffing.

        "Good, now you're getting it," I mocked with fake supervillain bravado.  I was going to need a shower after this.  "Now you just stand there and let me head out the door. Be a good boy."

        "You can go, but we'll catch up later," he promised, raising his hands in the air.

        "Sure, sure, we'll do lunch."  I quickly headed out the door and moved to the edge of the building.  Double checking to make sure Kung Fu Man hadn't followed, I popped my claws and busted out the window.  "Heading out but with potential mask tail.  I'll make some rounds around the city before heading to the drop point."

        "I'll meet you there, Hobester.  Sounds like you could use a rub down," Felicia purred.  I shuddered with disgust as I fired a zip line.  Yes, definitely going to want a shower. 

Next Issue: Breaking and Entering