Second Wind

Chapter 27: An Assisted Break-In

Before they can progress further into their mission, they first needed to think of a way to get into those buildings first without being caught. For Jaguar, this was not really a problem for her, but the same could not be said for Blake at all, who only had her disguise to work with - a disguise that had an expiration date. If they find out that the person she's disguising as had been long gone, it would be the end for her. Because of this, they needed to be very careful in their plan - two things needed to be happen. The mission must be successful, and Jaguar cannot be implicated in the vigilante's agenda.

The two were currently within the vigilante's motel room, with Blake sitting by the edge of her bed once again while Jaguar paced back and forth, with her movements possessing a tint of impatience. They were clearly trying to think over what must be done in order for them to execute their mission without risking each other's safety, but it seems like they were clearly stuck at an impasse here. Neither of them knew how to approach this, especially since they knew that the security was going to be very tight. If they could circumnavigate past the security within West Warren Road, then everything should technically be a cakewalk from there.

"You got a plan in your head yet?"

"Not really...still trying to think of something, though. I'm sure I'll figure something out in due time."

"In case you don't know, time is not exactly on our side, Jaguar."

"I'm aware of that, dammit! I'm not trying to stall here! No one said I was a genius, you know!"

"I didn't say that you were one."

"...you calling me stupid?"

Jaguar's response was enough to make Blake let out a sigh as she placed her hands under her chin, essentially resting her head on top of them as she tried to think harder so that she could at least have something to work with. After spending a good amount of time pondering, an idea soon popped up in the vigilante's head as she quickly pulled herself back up to her feet in response to the plan that she had managed to cobble together in her head. It was not a definite plan per say, but things could definitely snowball from the suggestion that she might put out. Her sudden movement did catch Jaguar off-guard there as she immediately came to a halt after seeing her associate suddenly stand up in an instant. This was also enough for the woman to speak up as she addressed Blake.

"I'm assuming you managed to think of something?"

"Sure have."

"This better be good..."

"You'd have to initiate the plan first. Here's what we do..."

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Meanwhile, back at West Warren Road, Matthew was seen aimlessly walking about on the street - despite him being completely surrounded by his goons, he never felt this isolated in a long time. He was still clearly shaken by what had happened back at Brightmoor, though his concerns looked to be more focused on Lettie herself. He had never heard from her ever since she cut that phone call short, and since then, despite his efforts, he was unable to regain any contact with her. He had even went so far as to send some of his thugs to Brightmoor as well so that they could seek her out, but nothing was gained from this. He soon came to a halt in front of the auto shop as he momentarily glanced over at the locked door, thinking about everything that has happened over the past few weeks. His expression displayed great stress and concern, and admittedly, he also had hints of paranoia plaguing his mind as well.

He had this sneaking suspicion that the vigilante had to be here somewhere - the likelihood of her disguising herself as one of his goons is very high to the point of certainty. Perhaps that may be the reason why he was walking about in the first place - to find her. Sure, the road was heavily guarded, but anything can be evaded with enough perseverance...and cunning. Despite his mental attempts to try and calm himself down, he just felt incapable of relaxing himself. His inability to keep himself composed was enough to make him c***k a frown as he let out a huff before staring up into the sky, his mind filed with displeasure and unease.

"Where the f**k are ya...I know you're around here somewhere...where else could you possibly be? It makes perfect sense for you to be here...so why do you hide yourself?"

In the end, he could only let out a sigh as he continued his walk on the street - many thugs that were on active guard duty had noticed his current state since the beginning, but they felt that they were unable to help him. Others chose not to as they merely carried on with their work, most likely out of fear of being caught if they were seen slacking off. That probably explained why he felt so isolated - considering how everyone around him merely acted as his employees and nothing more, they really had no reason to speak to him, especially given the name he possessed. He was one of the four people who had direct contact with Fleurie while also possessing some power over Pathfinder affairs. This, in turn, did make him into a very feared person as a result, and hence, almost no one would want to approach him in an informal manner, leaving him starved of social acts in the process. It is likely that this is experienced by the other three elites within the Pathfinder as well, which included the currently AWOL Lettie.

All of a sudden, while he was in the middle of his moment of self-reflection while he was walking, he felt a hand rest itself against his shoulder as he came to a halt in an instant with his hand instinctively moving towards his pocket, implying that he was armed. However, when he glanced over to the side, he noticed someone wearing a rat mask behind him.

It was Max.

Upon realizing that it was just one of his workers, he rolled his eyes from one end to another before letting out a sigh and pulling his hand back out. Once that was out of the way, he turned around to face the rookie as he folded his arms before speaking up - his voice implied that he was currently not in a good mood at the moment.

"You need me for something? What's up?"

"Hey, uh...I guess I just wanted to see if you're doing okay. You look kinda down..."

Matthew was rather surprised when he learned the reason behind Max confronting him. He awkwardly looked side to side for a moment before cracking a smile as he let out a huff before providing the rookie with some assurance on his part.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just thinking about some stuff, that's all. Hey, you're the newbie, right? Max, I think."

"Ehehe...yeah, I am. How did ya know?"

"I got my reasons. You got a lot of guts to join the gang during a turbulent time like this."

Max could only let out a rather forced laugh as his eyes momentarily rolled towards the side, though with his mask covering his expression, this was something that Matthew could not see. Was it really gutsy of him to join the Pathfinder when he did not have much of a choice on his part? It was either that or certain doom for him and the rest of his family, which was a fate that he simply could not allow at all. Nevertheless, despite his mood being somewhat soured, he attempted to carry on with the conversation as Matthew continued to speak with him.

"Gonna be real honest with you, Maxie...things have not been looking so hot. We haven't heard from Lettie in like...forever. Makes me wonder what the hell even happened to her. I been trying to find her, but I've gotten nowhere with my search...wonder if she's trying to piss me off on purpose. Honestly, couldn't tell ya..."

"I'm sure that she's still alive, if that's what you're worried about. Many others think that she's gone, but I'm not one of those people. And if she's in hiding, then surely she has her reasons, right?"

"...I hope so. She's gonna get a real earful from the Boss if she's alive..."

Matthew had said those words with a pretend tone of smugness - in reality, he seemed to be terrified by the idea of Fleurie meeting with Lettie involving her absence from duty. He had already gotten word about what happened involving the group of goons from Brightmoor that had met Fleurie herself, and for Lettie to be involved in a similar fate did leave the man rather shaken. In fact, his fear culminated in a momentary shiver that Matthew demonstrated, which left Max clearly worried.

"Um...you okay, sir...?"

"I...I said I'm fine, dude. Don't worry about it. Just...get back to work. Wouldn't want you slacking off on the job. Otherwise the Boss will yell into your ear so hard that you'll be seeing voices...literally."

His little quip involving Fleurie's temperamental stature did make Max chuckle a little, though he quickly managed to silence himself as he attempted to wrap up the conversation by saying a few parting words.

"A-Alright. I think I should get back to work."

"Mhm, you should. Be sure to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. That even includes someone who may well be one of us. I trust you can do the right thing here, Maxie."

"...yeah. I won't let you down."

Max seemed to have displayed a hint of hesitance and reluctance in his response, causing Matthew to look at him with a rather perplexed stare - before he could even say anything else, he had already made his way back to his post as he rejoined his associates on the street. Matthew was left thinking about Max's parting words as he placed a hand to his chin whilst pondering to himself.

"He sounded rather uneasy there...why is that?"

Before he could even consider delving deeper into his thoughts, his conscience was suddenly interrupted by something as he snapped back into reality in the snap of a finger. That 'something' was a loud noise that caught the attention of everyone surrounding him.

That 'something'...was the sound of an explosion.

As soon as he felt this powerful heat behind him, he immediately turned around to the source of the heat as he saw one of the buildings completely blown up - the tire shop. Many of the thugs who were on guard duty immediately rushed towards the scene, with some of them displaying hints of utter panic and desperation in their movements. While the goons made their way towards the ruined building, Matthew remained standing there, completely still as a stone. He was still unable to process what had just happened, which probably explained the petrified gaze that he had in his eyes. At this moment, he now knew just how Lettie felt when those buildings in Brightmoor were destroyed.

His mind was clearly shaken by what he had just witnessed, and there was only one thought that was left within his mind:

"How...?"

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Hours before the explosion happened, Jaguar and Blake had been hard at work, with the duo improving the plan that the vigilante had posed to her whilst thinking of whatever loose ends that needed to be dealt with so that their plan would be made more foolproof. One of those loose ends was, admittedly, Max himself, which the two of them had already known at this point in time. With the two coming to an agreement that he needed to be sorted out as quickly as possible, Jaguar quickly made her way back to the heart of the neighborhood, and after managing to find Max back in Warrendale, she immediately got him to the motel, where Blake would be waiting for him. During this time, Max had not known who the vigilante was, nor did he know that he had actually met her way earlier, back when she had just arrived at the neighborhood itself.

When Jaguar arrived at the motel with Max, the vigilante was seen standing by the front doors of the building, with her wearing her panda mask. At first, when Max noticed the masked Blake standing there, he was left rather puzzled as the two got themselves off Jaguar's motorcycle before approaching Blake herself - all this was happening while the rookie posed a few questions to the woman.

"Hey, I recognize them...I remember meeting them before. What's all this about?"

"You'll see."

From there, she continued talking, though she now had her attention shifted towards Blake as she addressed her.

"Hey, buddy. You can stop the charade now. It's about time he knows."

"What do you mean by-"

Max would be interrupted by what he ended up seeing next - when Blake took the panda mask off and revealed herself to him, he suddenly stopped walking as he remained completely grounded to the floor. Although they could not see his current expression, his eyes were completely wide, and his mouth was slightly open, which further reflected his state of complete and utter surprise. Jaguar continued walking until she was standing beside the vigilante, and from there, the duo merely stared at the dumbfounded rookie, with the woman snickering while the vigilante remaining expressionless as always. After remaining quiet for a few moments, he finally managed to stammer a few words out - it was safe to assume that he was rather...terrified.

"Y-You...you found her? Oh my god...I was actually talking to a fugitive all along..."

Blake, at this point, was not really keen on entertaining his state of shock as she folded her arms before directly speaking to Max, with her voice possessing a tone of disinterest.

"Hey, kid. Good to see ya again."

"H-Hey..."

"You and I...we got a lot of catching up to do."

"Uh...just what do you plan on doing...?"

"There's something that me and Jaguar here plan on doing here, and we need you to do something for us."

"W-What could you possibly want from me...?"

The two women momentarily looked at each other before giving themselves a nod before they looked back at Max while Blake continued her conversation with him.

"Well, I just need you to shut up from start to finish. She and I are planning on blowing up one of the buildings where the weapons are being manufactured. Jaguar sneaks us in, I rig the building with the explosives I currently have, and we get out. Easy peasy. But we need you to keep things quiet and the others distracted long enough for us to get the job done."

"W-Why must I help you guys?! What you're doing isn't right!"

"Oh, YOU'RE lecturing ME about what's right?! I'm doing what's best for this damn city! If we cripple the Pathfinder, we can finally bring it down for good and free this city from its torment! A torment that has been going on for too long, I might add!"

"B-But..."

"There are no buts in this. There is a lot at stake here. If we succeed, we'll be closer in bringing the Pathfinder down to its knees. I know you never wanted to be a part of this in the first place. You only showed up here because you had to, otherwise you'll lose more than you could possibly imagine. If we succeed, we'll be a step closer to your goal of finally living your life without any fear plaguing you. You need to think about this really carefully, Max."

At this point, the rookie was left completely silenced by Blake's impassionate response - there was no way he could deny what she's saying. After all, she looked to be right from his point of view. If he could be free from Fleurie's brutal control, then he can finally return to a normal life...a life that was left behind an eternity ago. With all this in mind, he stared down at the ground as he shook his head side to side in defeat before giving Blake and Jaguar an approving nod, implying that he was going to be part of their plan.

"...fine. But I just hope that you'll be right in the end. I don't know if I can do much, but...I'll try. Maybe I'll be able to have the goons focus more on guarding the storage units first instead of the manufacturing areas. I can't make promises, though. I'm still new to this whole thing, so they probably won't listen to me."

"As long as you try. And don't even think about ratting us out. Otherwise, I'll have your head stuck to a wall."

"Uhm...yeah..."

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Fast forward to an hour after the explosion - with the collective effort of the goons who were out on the streets, the fire caused by the tire shop's explosion was inevitably extinguished. However, the aftermath of this incident proved to be very similar to the explosions in Brightmoor - very few survivors were found while the others were pronounced dead, with them either burnt to death by the blaze or crushed by the debris that was formed from the explosion which brought the entire building down into a ruinous pile. While the gangsters were at work, trying to salvage and rescue anyone or anything they could find from the rubble and ruin, Matthew was seen standing on the opposite end of the building as he stared at the destruction spearheaded by Blake and Jaguar. His stunned state was still very much evident, and his damaged psyche was further exacerbated by the sight of corpses being taken out of the destroyed building. Witnessing so much death before him proved to be too much for him, and with that, he immediately turned away from the scene before promptly leaving as he walked down the sidewalk.

With each step he took, his shock slowly contorted into unimaginable fury as his posture transformed ever so gradually to reflect on his slowly shifting state of mind. When he reached the end of the intersection between West Warren Road and the Evergreen Road, his eyes fixated on a dark blue-colored car that was parked next to the sidewalk in front of him. He slid his hand into his pocket for a moment before pulling something out - a set of car keys. After pressing a button on the keys, the car's headlights flashed for a second before powering down, indicating that the car was unlocked. He then walked towards the booth of the car, and after popping it open, he stared at the one thing that was in the booth.

A briefcase.

He reached out to it, and after opening it, he took one good look at the briefcase's contents - all while having this vengeful gaze in his eyes. There was a pair of gloves with a bunch of wires connected to it externally, and next to the gloves was a bladed weapon which possessed a curve equivalent to that of a scimitar, though the weapon's length was similar to that of a standard dagger or knife. There was also a retractable baton as well with two buttons displayed, with the top button possessing a lightning symbol while the bottom button showed the symbol of a stick below it. Lastly, to top everything off, there was a gun which had a design similar to that of a flintlock gun, which was basically an ancient design to begin with. What was strange, however, was the barrel of the gun, which had the look of a flare gun's barrel. He blankly stared at the weapons he had at his disposal before realizing what must be done.

For the longest time, he chose to maintain a more reserved stance so that he could keep Blake at bay. However, with the vigilante clearly going on the warpath, things had now gotten personal for him.

"That damn bastard thinks she can get away with this, huh...? She will pay for this...she will know who I really am!"