The Matters of Power

Chapter 55- One Final Night [2]

Current perspective: Quarter

It's far too quick to come to conclusions, but I have to assume that the already caught Marcus if we haven't seen him inside for a while. Nobody inside has seen him, and his last known recorded location was on the second floor where the VIP area is. That was about 45 minutes ago, maybe close to an hour. "Quarter, can I say something?" Yan's voice goes through my earbud. "Sure. What is it?" "I know this might seem bad, but are you sure that Marcus is gonna be okay in there? These guys... they aren't gangs. If they are mafia, or worse... a beating's not gonna be the last thing they're gonna do to him. I can't imagine how he would take such a risk for us." Neither can I, Yan, but the both of us know what's at stake here. I sigh, "I know. I know. We need them to make the first move, and if Marcus didn't do it, we'll move with whatever knowledge we have." "Sure. There's been nothing on our- Hold on." "What, what is it?" He starts to whisper to the point I need to press my earbud closer to my ear. "Two trucks just rolled into the back of the building. Some local supply company. Stopped by the loading area. Rear doors open and a large amount of people jump out in uniforms. Jesus, how many guys do the Crimson Group have under their wing? They headed straight to a back door in a line and disappeared. Quarter, what do we do with that?" So, it seems that the Crimson Group have finally made the first move, and they probably won't have enough goons in their organization to stop Marcus anyway. "Yan." I take a deep breath, "Yan, it's go time. Take your guys and follow them inside, make sure you don't miss anything." "...You got it. Out." With that settled, I instruct the guys on my side to stand watch and observe if any of their reinforcements come through to warn us, then proceed to make my way to the entrance of Red Buster's. The atmosphere inside is... livelier than I thought, no doubt the work of Marcus to get inside the VIP area. 

Even as I walk around the building, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, and that terrifies me. Nevermind that, the best place to start would be the VIP area where Marcus was last seen. I decide to take the elevator to the second floor rather than the stairs and see that the VIP area really lives up to its name with the amount of style it has compared to the rest of the place. "Is there something you need, sir?" Any employee suddenly approaches me. I gotta be careful what I say to him, he might be a part of the Crimson Group. "I was supposed to meet a friend who is a VIP here. It looks like he isn't here." "If that is the case, you must wait for his arrival. Unless you have a Plus One Voucher?" "Huh? I need something like that to wait here?" "I'm afraid so. If you don't have one, then I must ask you to wait outside the VIP area for your friend and be registered a Plus One Voucher." It looks like I'm not going to get anywhere with this guy in my way. Dammit, I gotta think of something else. "...Fine. Excuse me." I shuffle my feet behind me back to the elevator. I close the elevator doors first to vent privately without anyone peeking before choosing the next floor. Observing the elevator button panel, I find an unusual detail within it: there's no 'B2' button below the 'B1' button, only 'B3'. That can't be a mindless mistake, can it? Unless I can... oh, wow! The basement buttons both lit up simultaneously instead of just one over the other! Not only that, but a piece of the panel also breaks away to reveal a grey square glass. There's nothing on the other side of the glass, so there must be something I'm missing here that makes it important. Then it hits me, I might have something that could assist me here: the ornate pin.

Before we made our way to Red Buster's to fight the Crimson Group, Marcus had stopped us just before we left the house. "Hey, guys, listen." Yan and I turn to look at him. "I forgot to tell you guys about something. It's about this pin." He pulls the pin out from his back pocket and shows it to us. "...And? What about it?" We're still confused about where this is leading up to. He scratches the back of his head, "That's the thing, I dunno what to make of it. I got this from Pot a few weeks ago, from that time I went to Mr. Corvanez's high school. Long story short, this thing ought to be a clue to be able to infiltrate their base within... wherever it is." I glance at Yan to see what he makes of it and see that he quickly swipes the pin from Marcus' hand. "Hmmm..." He observes it intently, looking at every angle that might hide some other secret. Finally, he places it back on his hand. "To tell you the truth, I don't see anything strange about it. It looks like your ordinary pin that you would find on some rich suit. That, or as an accessory in some old-school yakuza movie." Marcus and I sigh in unison at the (lack of) results that his observation produced. "Well, barring that," Marcus shoves the pin towards me, "I need either one of you to hold onto it for the night. I'm not sure what's going to happen to me if our original plan is gonna go sideways, but this pin might be our saving grace, or rather mine if it comes to it. Quarter, take it, please." I can see the desperation in his eyes, but also the hint of strong trust he has within me that he insists on handing it over to me. Understanding the gravity of the situation, I take the pin off of his hand and place it in my shirt pocket. "Alrighty then. Did we forget anything else in the house before we leave? No? Okay, let's go, the other guys are waiting on our signal."

Thinking about it, did Marcus predict that the plan was gonna go wrong immediately? Or was it some fallback plan that he had a hunch on? It matters little now, I gotta know if the ornate pin is actually work on this glass. I gently place the pin on the glass, making sure that it doesn't suddenly shatter the glass on its own weight, and wait for anything to happen... and nothing. Maybe if I place the pin where its symbolic face is supposed to sit on the glass? I fix the pin placement and I suddenly hear a small *ca-chunk* followed by the glass emitting a yellow scanning motion. Upon reading the pin, the whole glass turns green, and I feel the elevator suddenly moving again, going down until it reaches the 2nd basement floor and stopping abruptly. I react quickly and take the ornate pin from its spot where the glass retracts backs into its hidden spot, followed by taking cover next to the elevator corner in case the doors open to Crimson Group gunfire. The elevator doors open and... silence. Nothing... not even sounds of footsteps are heard. I take the opportunity to peek out the elevator to find that I'm at some sort of locker room of sorts. There are lines of Red Buster uniforms on one side with another side being full of clothes that might be the employees who change here. Is this where the Crimson Group change to blend in as workers and hide away their stained clothes? As much as I want to think about this room's true purpose, I can't stop to look at every nook and cranny when Marcus might be in serious peril. I head to the door on the opposite side of the room, but before I can lay my hands on the doorknob, I hear voices quickly approaching the door. "What do you think happened that made 'em come down so early?" Crap, I gotta hide! There, I'll take cover behind the locker row closest to me so I can hear clearly. "Dunno. I dunno man, maybe they caught another brat snooping by?" The door swings open and I spot three thugs enter the locker room, not aware of my presence. "What, another one of those, uhh, Swift Cross kids? Maybe. The first one was stupid enough to jump in the party room without any plan..." Damn, that might be Marcus they're talking about. "Whatever, we just gotta wait for them to come down and we take care of the rest. I swear those Swim Crocs kids don't know who they're messing with." "Swift Cross." "That's what I said, didn't I?" While they argue amongst themselves, I quietly approach the door they came through and close it, so no one suddenly comes in from any commotion heard. Approaching the closest thug to me, I quickly and brutally slam the side of their head on the locker doors, instantly knocking them on the ground and scaring the other two. "Wha- Sonofa-!" The next one is barely able to react as I close in on them and grab a hold of their head and once again slam it across another locker door, followed by a knee kick right to his jaw. The final thug barely manages to get in a swing in before I grab it and position it behind his back, knocking his legs over where he falls face first to the ground and I finish it off with a foot slam.

There. It was fortunate to have the element of surprise on me, or else I might have had trouble in this room. Ah, dammit, I should have left one conscious so I could interrogate him for any information about this hideout. Then again, they just look like bottom rung of the ladder, so I gotta go off intuition and any clues I find along the way. 

Dammit Marcus, you better be able to fight when I get to you in time.