Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Nine

"Easy does it."

"I know. Shut up. I'll tell you when I'm in." I rolled my eyes. It was past midnight, I was sleep deprived, I was shoved in a vent that was too narrow for my head, let alone my shoulders, and Louis was in my left ear, nagging me about being too loud in the vent. For fuck's sake, I'd Hunted just as long as he had. I knew what I was doing.

"Gods, you're cranky. I'm not taking you on any late night assignments anymore."

"Good. I didn't wanna come tonight anyway." I stopped, reaching a crossroad in the vent, and sighed. "All right, you're really going to have to shut up now. This is going to take actual skill and maneuvering, so don't speak to me again until I say otherwise."

"First of all, I should be saying something along those lines in a much better situation than this, not you. And second of all, move a little faster. It's cold out here."

Knowing better than to snap at him, I didn't reply and pressed my ear to the bottom of the vent, listening for something going on below.

After Louis had gotten the call from the investigative team, he'd immediately sent out a mass text message to the strategy team. Only two responded right away, but that was enough for him. He rallied up the rest of the Unit 01 team, gave us the bare bones of a plan, and there I was, stuck in the vents of a demonic lair.

The investigative team didn't have as much information on this gang as they had the last, so we were given coordinates. Louis decided that as the team's watcher, it was best for me to get in, get the layout, and then give them the rundown of where they could enter and how we needed to play the situation in order to maximize our results.

It was more intense than it had been last time, and it felt more like a mission than the last had too. For the first time since the defeat of the Aquireign, I was responsible for a team again. While it was strange, it was also very familiar, almost like riding a bike. The other thing... Out of the ones that were actually more well-versed in espionage and strategy than I was, Louis wanted me in there, because he knew what call I'd make. Yet again, I noticed patterns that we were slipping back into—favoring one another and selecting one another over others that were better qualified, trusting the other's judgement above all else, and, something new that made me a little nervous, constant quipping over the comms. While we'd bickered and played before, half the venom in my voice was something I reserved for myself when I was Alexei. Having that come through while in the Glass Hunter mask didn't feel quite right, but Louis ran with it, probably thrilled that I was loosening up and might fuck up and give him a hint as to who I was.

Bang!

I tensed, looking straight ahead. That was where it'd come from, and it sounded more like something fell rather than a gunshot. Regardless, that was where I was heading. The left and right corridors were silent, which didn't necessarily mean that they were empty, but something about the loud, scary noise definitely alluded to something lying straight ahead.

I wiggled through the vent, past the intersection, straight to a large grate. Peering through it, I was able to make out panels of flooring and past all of those were several dark figures. The knife I'd stuck in the collar of my shirt popped off easily into my hand, allowing me to use the tip of it to loosen the screws holding the grate it. Once the screws were loosened, I caught it and lifted it up, sliding it to the other side of the hole.

With a deep breath, I pulled myself closer to it, and over it, so I could lower the bottom half of my body out. Feet first, I managed to slide out of the hole in the vent, dropping straight onto a walkway that ran all around the room. It resembled a viewing booth, made to watch the center of the room below. However, there was no glass along the walkway, shielding the viewer. There weren't any sets of speakers either. Instead, it looked like a hallway with a bannister and exits at each corner.