Chad Undercover

A Night on the Town

Chad straightened his shirt a bit as he moved down the familiar alley towards the warehouse door. He took some deep breaths, trying to gather the courage to knock. Alex knew who he was, escalating the hero's mission from risky to damn near suicidal. For the moment though, the fear of death was trumped by the fear of his mother's disappointment.

He raised a hand, managing to stifle his shaking, and he gave the secret knock. There was a long silence as Chad waited patiently. After a minute, he leaned in, listening for any sounds coming through the door. Nothing. Was this a trap? He pulled out the invitation and checked his watch. He was nearly half an hour late... why couldn't he hear anything.

Now even more on edge, the hero slowly reached up again and knocked. This time, after several seconds, he heard the door click and slowly start to open. He braced himself for whatever might be waiting for him on the other side.

The sound of music blaring hit him like a wall once the door cleared the frame, and he was pulled inside, the door slamming behind him. The sight that met him was more like a frat party than the sophisticated galas his parents used to throw. Several people were dancing, a few playing party games, and there was a group crowded around something in the corner.

"Hey, Kid!" A jovial voice greeted the hero and Chad looked up to see Kevin, the one who had pulled him in. The older man had a big grin, and it was clear that the beer he held was far from his first of the night. "We were startin' to think you weren't comin'!"

Chad chuckled a bit, swallowing his nerves. "Well I was starting to think there wasn't a party at all." He confessed. "It was silent in the alley."

Kevin laughed, grabbing another bottle of beer from a cooler and popping the cap off on the edge of the counter. "'Course it was! That's the boss' handywork." He said, thrusting the fresh beer at Chad who took it with a quiet thanks. "No need to let anyone outside hear our plans!"

Chad took a drink of the cheap brew, pausing for a moment. This could be a good time to do a little information gathering. "Morgan did it?" He asked. "How? That's pretty intense sound dampening."

Kevin just shook his head, laughing. "Hell if I know. Some of that fancy shit they make." He said, before turning to the crowd in the corner. "Hey Boss!" He called out. "Jim has a question!"

The shout made Chad flinch as his brown eyes scanned the party for any sign of Alex. When he turned to look back towards Kevin, he grunted as he was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. The smell of alcohol filled his nose as he looked up to see Morgan holding him, a big drunk grin on their face. "Jim! You made it!" They chimmed, releasing the other finally.

"Jim was askin' 'bout how you keep the sound inside... or whatever." Kevin said, though he looked up as he was called over for a game of beer pong, excusing himself from the hero and villain with only a wave.

Morgan chuckled, shaking his head dismissively. "Oh! That's easy!" they said, beaming at the hero. They pointed at the wall, showing off oddly shaped sheet metal with some kind of foam between them. "Baffling and wadding on all the walls, kinda like the suppressor on a gun."

Chad paused and arched a brow. "Really? That's it?" He asked, taking another small sip of his beer, careful not to drink too much.

Morgan shrugged. "Well, there's the inverse frequency modulator too." They said, downing their drink and tossing the bottle aside.

Chad arched a brow, feeling as if his brother was speaking another language. "I'm sorry... what?" he asked, making Morgan laugh.

"It's just a machine." Morgan said, clearly looking excited. "Basically, it senses waves, like sound, radio, UV, Xray, all that. It uses AI armed with predictive and adaptive algorithms combined with a modified perlin noise restrictive code to generate another wave to cancel the first out without affecting or damaging our own electronics." The villain paused to let out a burp before continuing. "The AI can predict the waves coming in while the perlin noise helps prevent crazy spikes that might be suspicious when the AI gets it wrong and has to correct. It helps keep us from being heard or seen by most superhero spying powers and basically all non superhero spying tools."