An Unwanted Guest ◄ Isaac & Lyante ►

Lyante didn’t particularly hate the night shift; in fact, in Novus she’d defend the idea that nighttime was probably the most interesting time around here. No, what really bothered her was in the nature of the assignment. Babysitting a bunch of corporations seemed…beneath her. She sighed, with the recent string of break-ins and corporate espionage; even the secret police had been involved. So here she was, walking the streets of the business district, looking out for anything suspicious like she was back in her first week with the police.


Dying of boredom, she stretches herself out, a familiar rumble in her tummy being the last straw. As she broke from her set patrol route, she decided to waltz into a familiar guard house, scaring the shit out of the four guard playing cards as she kicks the door open. As they scramble to get their guns out, Lyante already had then at gunpoint.


“Well, no wonder everything gets stolen,” Lyante groaned, “having fun at the job?”

Three of the guards looked at each other in fear, but the fourth slowly put down his arms: “Okay, that’s enough scarring the new guys.”



Lyante gave him a smile and lowered her gun. “Aww Winston, you spoilsport,” she sighed, grabbing one of the donuts and leaning back against the wall. The other guards confused but smiling sheepishly as Winston raised the game with another few chips. “But seriously Winston, what are you teaching these boys, I didn’t dodge a single camera, you had plenty of opportunities to spot me.”



“Bullshit, I’ve had my eye on that camera all night.”


Lyante finished the donut and stepped beyond him, reveling in the opportunity to show him wrong. Tapping on the control panel she brought up the video…and didn’t see anything.



“See, you can’t fool me with your little ga—“


“Shut up, you’ve been breached,” she said coldly, putting on her goggles and grabbing a hand full of the chips on the table on her way out. “Someone’s been messing with your cameras; get your flunkies out there and fix whatever they did to them. I’m going hunting.”



Finally something exciting, she thought, quickly making her way to the lab, taking that whatever they were stealing had to be there. The rest of the building was one big maze of utility pipes anyway. Poor thieves, Lyante thought, of all the buildings in all of Novus, they had to steal from the one where I did my security detail internship.


Reaching the doors of the lab, she activated her spider robot, dampening her own signals as she put on night vision; carefully checking every nook and cranny of the room, getting closer and closer to where Isaac was hiding.

Lyante was slowly, soundlessly and systematically checking every hiding spot she could think of, her robot spider helping her scan, when suddenly she heard a sound, her head snapping up, into the direction of the sound. The next moment, before she could see anything, her entire visor-screen went blank. It desperately tried to correct the contrast/brightness before clipping out and switching to normal vision, finding that there apparently was light enough. The whole process only took a fraction of a second, but for a professional like Isaac, that was enough.


Lyante had ducked behind the nearest counter as the visor adjusted itself. Well, at least I was right, she thought, and it seems I’m dealing with a somewhat clever thief. She leaned against the counter, stretching out her hand to the robotic spider, letting it climb her arm and perch itself on her shoulder. She regretted not addressing the issue before; cloaking herself meant that the spider couldn’t scan for others at the same time. She’d have to correct that flaw when she finished here.


“Thanks for confirming your presence,” Lyante smirked, “Now if you had any weapons, I’m guessing you would have shot or attacked me when you had the chance. Or maybe you’re just a nice thief. Either way, your punishment will be the same. Reveal yourself and I’ll be lenient.”


Lyante was, of course, lying, gauging the thief’s reaction. There came none, Lyante suspecting another trick from the thief and slowly made her way back to the door, overriding its security level with her credentials and locking the lab. Turning to the alarm console, she set off the sprinklers. She wouldn’t be able to walk quietly anymore, but neither would her prey. “Now, come out, come out, wherever you are…”


She started checking hiding spots again while she loaded some electric magix, while smiling at her insulated boots. Suddenly she stopped and smirked at the vial in front of her. Her experience told her that this was the only thing of slight value in the lab.


“Well, if you don’t want to come out and play, I can wait,” Lyante sat upon the furthest tabletop in a corner, keeping an ideal vantage point as the lab slowly got drenched. Playing with the vial, Lyante smirked “I’m guessing you are a low tier criminal, you need to bring this back or it’s your head, right? Quite the dilemma you got there.”

Lyante was more entertained by the minute. Her adversary clearly didn’t fall for her taunts, which meant the thief probably wasn’t the lowest person in the food chain. And people like that had information, information she, and her department, could use. She sighed, all of her observations let to one conclusion: she’d have to capture the thief alive and see if he had any use to her before deciding to kill him.


Her plan to electrify the floor got bumped back to plan B as she started hacking the building to turn off the sprinkles. Her goggles had limited capabilities, but knowing the security of the building as well as she did, it proved enough. The wet staccato of rain dried up and except for the occasional drip, silence returned to the lab, Lyante trying her best to listen for a localized cluster of rain, as she was sure the thief had to be drenched at this point, just like her…and everything else in the room.



She relied on her spider to help her, not realizing the limited capabilities of the spider had left it open for hacking. It had been built for stealth and had no offensive capabilities; as it was not meant to be noticed, she hadn’t bothered with many securities beyond it being untraceable to her.


“Nothing like a summer shower, isn’t there, mr. Thief? Or is it miss?” Lyante kept taunting him, trying to hack the communication frequencies to contact Winston, as she put the vial away. Just then, Isaac turned the lights back off. “My, trying to get me in the dark, this is only our first date!” Lyante relied on her goggles, as she abandoned trying to hack the communication and began searching for the light directory, her googles somewhat slower than Isaac’s more specialized tools.


Standing up on the counter to get a better positioning, and to be ready if the thief attacked, Lyante loaded another kind of magic in her port. She wasn’t used to using this one much, but it seemed a perfect opportunity as she cast a freeze spell, freezing the ground surrounding her counter, noticing her own body temperature rising slightly.


I still have the best vantage point, your move, thief.

Lyante felt quite confident on her set up; she had the higher grounds, hard to reach and the overview of the entire lab. With all of the water gliding down the specially designed countertops, soon the only thing dripping would be her prey, betraying his/her location. Soon, she’d have the thief in custody, rubbing it into Winston’s face and having him in her debt once again.


Then, she felt a pinch on her shoulder, the comfortable, familiar weight of her robot spider shifting, rolling off as she tried to catch it before it hit the floor. Realizing the thief might be behind this, she let it drop, not about to open herself to attacks. Making a mental note of upgrading the spider, she scanned the room for any changes.


Seeing nothing in nightvision, and remembering the thief playing keep-away with the lights, she switched to thermal vision, reasoning that with the ice spell, the room would be slightly colder than his or her body temperature.


As soon as she did that however, all hell broke loose; safety valves flew off their handles, pressure valves started hissing uncontrollably as a thick carpet of hot steam blocked her vision. She gripped her gun tighter as she heard a sound that wasn’t steam, taking on a more defensive stance as she returned to night vision just in time to see something gliding towards her. By the time she started to react, the thief’s leg connected with the back of her knee and she lost her balance, falling back.


As she fell, her mind raced; her other foot still on the edge of the counter. Bracing for impact, she pushed off on the counter, hitting the floor under a more beneficial angle and started to slide over the wet ice, shooting blindly at the counter she had just been. Unfortunately for her, her energy bolts hit nothing but the stone of the workbenches. At least she had created some distance between them, the ice feeling comforting against her warm body.



Scrambling to her feet, she ran for the only thing that would help her right now: the chemical emergency button on the fume hoods. Slamming her hand against it, the giant fans started up, their mechanical whine increasing until the room was once again clear of most mists. She knew the emergency system was on another net from the regular one, making it harder to hack without a direct console, however, at this point, she wouldn’t put it past the thief.

Testing out the limits of her sore shoulder – the one she had landed on- she once again scanned the room, ready for everything, the room a hot sweaty mess of water damage. She had no idea where the thief was, but given the vial was intact and in her possession, she knew where he was going to; either directly towards her or directly towards the exit.


Taking potshots at strategic counters, she started hacking again, this time finding the lights, but not activating them yet. She would be ready for the thief’s next trick, excited to see what it would be.