Second Wind

Chapter 17: Gathering Intelligence

A new day.

In Blake's point of view, things look to be finally improving. She had done noticeable damage to the Pathfinder by destroying one of their outlets for creating drugs - she was now bent on rooting it out completely so that she could focus on the supply, which would undeniably stagnate once the suppliers are taken care of. However, she knew that she needed to back down for the time being - despite her cybernetic enhancements, she was still very much human regardless. Because of this, she had made her retreat back to the bar after managing to blow up the Citadel of Praise just not too long ago.

When the bartender returned to open up the bar once again when 10 AM struck, he noticed Blake leaning against the wall beside the entrance door, her motorcycle parked opposite her and her hood over her head despite it being under her current disguise, masking her complexion in the process. She was also gripping onto a cat mask in her fist as well, implying that she had taken the mask off for the time being. Realizing that she arrived here early yet again, he quickly walked up to the building before unlocking the shutters and pushing them up, allowing them access to the bar interior once more. It was also at this moment where he began speaking to her.

"I'm guessing you've done the deed?"

"...I guess so. I've managed to blow up one of the churches...so you could say that I've completed a quarter of my goal. I'm planning on driving around the streets for the rest of the day so that I can learn of any new developments. I'm certain that things will change after what has happened..."

"Hmm...while I appreciate your tenacity, don't you think you're pushing yourself too hard? You need to slow down a little - you don't have to continuously rush things."

"Man, I didn't ask for your opinion. Just open the door..."

The bartender was admittedly rather irritated by the vigilante's stubbornness, but when he sensed the fatigue in her voice, he could only let out a sigh as he dismissively shook his head side to side before unlocking the door - from there, he opened and walked through it, with the vigilante following suit. Now that the two were inside, the bartender reached out to the power box that was situated above the entrance door - after flipping a few switches, the electricity was activated as the bar burst to life. The neon lights flickered on, the air-conditioning began whirring, and the radio was turned on as well, with it playing Blake's favorite tune - Blizzard. The music was enough to make the vigilante c***k a smile, though she could not help but wonder why that was the case. Perhaps her favorite music was something that she had forgotten as well...but it is hard to forget something that is virtually muscle memory now. As Blake took her seat, the bartender quickly made his way to the other end of the table so that he would be opposite her, as usual. Once he got his chair and sat himself down, he rested his fingers against the countertop as he stretched his arms before beginning their conversation, with him immediately pressing her with a question.

"Right. So what exactly are your future plans?"

"I plan on finding the first drug storage area...but it depends on what I learn on the streets, which I'll probably head out to later in the afternoon. If I do find any kind of new development, then there'll probably be some changes to my agenda. But for now, this is what my future plan will be. Progress has been slow...but it's definitely progress regardless."

"I can see that. But again, I really think you should take a break, you know."

"Ugh, you and your concerns...I'm telling you, I'll be fine. Why do you have to be so worried?"

"Oh, I don't know...when was the last time you ever had proper sleep?"

"Why must that matter?"

"You have to give yourself a few breaks from time to time, dammit. You'll kill yourself if you keep harming yourself in the name of progress. You can progress at any time, but you can't progress on a ruined mind and body."

"Man, I'll take a break when everything is done and dusted. But last I checked, things ain't done and dusted yet. So I'll keep going until every pound of meth is gone from these streets. And you are not going to convince me otherwise."

"I'm not convincing you to stop whatever you're doing. I'm convincing you to just step backward and regain your conscience. I'm asking you to just unwind and get away from all the tension. You're going to really hurt yourself if you keep going down this very self-destructive path...it would benefit you a great deal if you can do things slowly for a change."

"Look, I'm doing the right thing here - these guys...they're relentless. If I take a break for even one second, all of my hard work will vanish in the snap of a finger. I can't afford to take a break right now. If I start something, I need to see it through to the end. No pit stops, nothing. This is a one way street with nothing in between, dude."

The bartender, finding himself incapable of breaking down her persistence, could only give up as he let out a defeated sigh before tilting his head down, further displaying his current state of surrender. Admittedly, in the face of defeat, he let out a chuckle as he then spoke to the vigilante soon after.

"You really can't change, can you? You're still as hardheaded as I remember..."

Blake merely cracked a smile before snapping back at him with a reply of her own.

"What can I say? You can't change what's already tough as nails."

"I guess I really can't..."

With the conversation seemingly wrapped up, she gave him a wink before putting the cat mask over her head once more before getting herself up and leaving the bar so that she could get to work.

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Once again, in some unidentified location within Brightmoor, which was revealed to be a derelict warehouse with just about everything within it removed, Lettie would be seen pacing back and forth with her hands shoved inside her pockets - her face displayed nothing but anxiety, and it looked like she was waiting for something, or someone, to show up here. The warehouse door opposite her current position, which was this massive faded blue iron door with a bolted lock currently unused, was suddenly opened ever so slightly until it was left ajar. The creaking noise was enough to make Lettie stop in place, her eyes immediately fixated on the door as she waited for something to happen - not wanting the tension to get to her head, she quickly spoke out towards the door, her tone raised and her voice rather hoarse.

"Who's there?! Show yourself, now!"

At first, she was met with no response, but just mere moments later, a man poked their head out from the partially open door - they seem to be aware of the fact that Lettie was here, since he immediately looked towards the woman as he acknowledges her presence.

"You must be Lettie, correct?"

"...the hell are you?"

"Answer the question first."

"...right. Yeah, I'm Lettie. So who the hell are you?"

"We...are your reinforcements."

As soon as she got that response, the man stepped into the warehouse - just seconds after he stepped in, about ten other people soon showed up as well, with four of them being men, and five of them being women. All of them were wearing plain clothes, making them look like standard people. All of them had walkie-talkies by their sides while also wearing headsets, and strangely enough, firearms were absent on their persons. The ten individuals soon stopped in front of Lettie, and when they stopped, one of the figures, who was one of the women from the group, stepped out and away from the others before stretching a hand out to Lettie, indicating that she wanted to give her a handshake.

"Kata told us about you. It seems that you require extra surveillance here, correct?"

Lettie, who was rather surprised by this turn of events, noticed the outstretched hand as she awkwardly gave her a handshake, and once that was out of the way, she swiftly cleared her throat before regaining her conscience and striking up a conversation with the people who were now standing before her.

"I wasn't expecting you to show up like this, honestly. But yes, I need some extra eyes here."

"Well, in that case, we'll assist you. We'll spread throughout Brightmoor, and from there, we'll be sure to watch over everything. Each second, each minute, each hour, each day. We'll see everything that needs to be seen, and whatever that should not be seen...well, we'll see anyway. Just so you know everything that we know."

"A bit much, but at this point, whatever. I need you to make sure to keep track of anyone that you deem suspicious. I need that damned vigilante to make sure that she feels like everyone is watching her. I want the paranoia to go right into her head. I need her to c***k, so that when she's at her most vulnerable, we'll finally have her right where we want her to be. Do I make myself clear?"

"Don't worry. We're on the same page as you are."

"Good. Very good..."

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It was now past midday. Blake, as she had said before, was now out on the streets, roaming around and about so that she could learn of any new developments involving Pathfinder activity. The streets were far from quiet this time round - there were less normal bystanders, and more active goons running around. All of them had one common goal in mind, and that was to take down Blake as soon as they saw her - especially since all of them now had permission to kill anyone that possessed suspect behavior. However, given how she still had her disguise on, this meant that no one was able to spot her...but she knew that her disguise can only last for so long. She needed to act quickly, and more importantly, she needed to extract as much important intel as she could manage.

However, there was one thing that she needed to keep in mind of.

The only uncertainty that she had was the potential new location of the second drug manufacturing point. For all she knew, it may well be in the Grace Refuge Chapel again - but she was not betting on such a gamble. Despite this reservation from her, she did not feel the same when it came to the drug storage locations. She was under the impression that the already existing drugs had not been relocated yet, so they still had to be there, right?

Well, that was for her to figure out herself.

While she had already made her decision to blow up one of the drug storage units, she still needed intel involving the last drug manufacturing area - surely one of these mobsters on the streets would know. With that in mind, she decided to park her motorcycle by the sidewalk at Fenkell Avenue, which looked to have the highest count of Pathfinder mobsters who were on active duty. The fact that she had not gotten much attention focused onto her once she was out on the streets on foot meant that her disguise was still holding out relatively well. However, despite her currently unexposed state, she knew that it was best for her to get her mission sorted out as quickly as possible so that she could get out.

And so, she was now on the hunt, attempting to find anyone that would serve as someone she could interrogate. She was keeping a close eye on everything that the goons were carrying on their persons while she was on the move - it was obvious that she was trying to avoid anyone that was holding a firearm. She needed to find someone who was a lot less equipped so that she could subdue them completely without any risk of them fighting back. However, it seemed like those kinds of people were nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, she chose to be hopeful, and with that optimism in mind, she continued walking around Fenkell Avenue, with the vigilante even going so far as to check the alleys that were connected to the main street - to the active mobsters taking note of her actions, it looked like she was just doing exactly what they were doing. However, their intentions could not be any different.

After spending half an hour on the streets, and after seeing many goons come and go, she soon found the person that she was looking for. Her target was wearing a crane mask, and that was the only thing which separated the vigilante from the thug. They were wearing the same set of clothes just like every mobster which surrounded them, which was a long-sleeved blue buttoned shirt along with a pair of jeans with the same color. Another thing that she noticed was the lack of firearm that they were carrying - maybe it was hidden from plain view, but the only weapon that she could see carrying around was a machete on their presumably dominant hand while also having a steel bat slung behind their back.

Perfect.

The only thing she had to do now was to lure them in.

In an instant, she came to a halt in front of the mobster, and although they did not notice her at first, she quickly made her way into the alley that was in front of her - an act that proved to be more than enough to catch their attention as their curiosity was irked. Deciding to check out what was going on there just in case, they peeked their head over the corner of the alley so that they could take a look. Although they saw nothing, what really got them was the fact that Blake had suddenly disappeared despite her entering the alley just mere moments later. With their attention fully fixated on the alley, they began walking down the street, hoping to see just what had happened. In reality, however, she had hidden herself behind another dumpster so that she could evade the goon's line of sight - déjà vu could be easily felt in this scenario here. It was strange that she had to do this again, but hey, all for the greater good, right? Nevertheless, she watched as the thug walked past the dumpster and away from her, and from there, she carefully snuck herself out from her hiding spot before rushing up to the thug and grabbing them by the back of their collar.

The thug, unable to react to this sudden string of events, was immediately caught off-guard as they were slammed right against the brick wall which was by their right hand side. The force of the smash was enough to momentarily daze them, allowing the vigilante to do her work as she hoisted them slightly up into the air whilst crudely dragging their back against the wall. From there, she began her interrogation session, not wanting to waste what little time she now had on her clock.

"Okay, buddy. The final location where teh drugs are being manufactured. Where is it?"

"Ungh...ugh...what...?"

"I said where is it?!"

She momentarily pulled them forward before slamming them back against the wall, which proved to be more than enough for the goon to snap back into reality as they stared down at Blake with their masked eyes.

"H-Huh?!"

"Don't make me repeat myself, dammit! Tell me right now or I'll pop a bullet between your eyes!"

"I-I don't know! I swear I don't know!!"

Finding herself completely overwhelmed with fury, she quickly drew her pistol which she had holstered by her side, and once she pressed it against the goon's forehead, it looked as though they were ready to scream for help, but the vigilante was keen on keeping them silenced to make sure that attention was not drawn towards them.

"Scream and I'll take the shot. I'm asking one simple question. You're not going to hide anything from me, I'm not going to hide anything from you. Capiche?"

"...o-okay, fine! I'll tell you! T-They moved everything from Rosedale Park! They're still keeping the drugs at the Commission Building and the White Factory, but they plan on relocating the drugs tomorrow! Just let me go, I won't tell anybody, PLEASE!!"

"...good."

That was the last thing the goon would hear as Blake pulled the trigger, and in an instant, the bullet blazed right through their mask and into the wall behind them as the thug's body went completely limp - an indication that she had effortlessly dispatched them on the spot. Now that she had gotten the info she needed, she quickly stormed out of the alley, dropping the dead body onto the asphalt as she quickly made her way back to the sidewalk - it only took her about a minute or two for her to return to her motorcycle, and as soon as she got onto her ride, she powered it on before making a run for it as she hit the streets. By the time she disappeared, one of the goons who were on active duty had spotted the corpse back at the alley, causing them to alert everyone surrounding them on what they had found, with their voice possessing a frantic tone to it.

"Guys! One of our crew's dead! Someone's got 'em!"

As the search party within Fenkell Avenue rushed to the scene, it was also at this moment where one of the spies that Lettie had enlisted showed up on the street as well, just minutes after the vigilante had escaped the premises. Upon noticing the rather dour situation that had occurred here, she squinted her eyes as she let out an irritated huff before placing a finger to her ear, which had a headset lodged into it. At that moment, she began talking to someone who was presumably on the receiving end of the headset.

"Looks like someone's working a lot faster than I thought."

"I'm assuming you've found traces of her?"

"Mhm. Looks like she just left too."

"Damn...she really doesn't want to keep herself still."

"Either way, it doesn't matter. Continue maintaining your posts. Make sure EVERYONE maintains their posts. Lettie has goons all over the neighborhood anyway. As soon as you find your target, alert everybody. Get involved if you need to."

"Sounds good to me."

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Although Blake had gotten the intel that she had been seeking out, she was not heading back to the bar to tell the bartender of what she had learned - instead, she looked to have left Brightmoor completely, with the vigilante making her way back to Saint Clair Shores. She had already thought up a plan as soon as she learned what Lettie had done. The whole foundation of her plan was very simple - get it done within 24 hours. She wanted to get this whole drug fiasco over and done with.

And she knew just how to do that.

While she was on the Interstate, she pulled out her phone while she was driving, immediately calling the bartender as she placed the phone to her ear. As soon as she heard the bartender, she immediately bombarded him with details, which caught him by surprise there, given how quickly she was talking.

"Hello-"

"I don't have time to talk right now, so I'll just fill you in."