They'll Hardly Miss It ◄ Isaac & Crowlin ►

Fortunately, Crowlin didn't have any real problem keeping up with Blue. The hacker was fairly certain that his colleague was faster than he was, at least in direct speed, but the difference in weight that the two of carried helped to mitigate the difference between them. Soon enough they were near the boarder with the next class district and, after they cleared it, they would be able to start moving much more freely. There was an obstacle to that however, a lot of relatively open ground to cover where they could be spotted by at least one camera if they weren't careful.

Crowlin listened to what his colleague had to say on the matter, and it seemed as though they would have to wait to time their movement when it lined up both with the blind of the camera and when they were sure that there was no one around who would be able to spot them.

It seemed as though it was Crowlin's turn up at bat though, as Isaac had concerns about not being able to hear people who might become witnesses the two of them didn't need. At that moment, the thought came into he head of another person he'd met recently who probably would have been more help in this department than himself, but there wasn't anything to be done about it now.

"They're not bunny ears, but they're better than a normal human's at least."

Crowlin wasn't exaggerating either. He noticed that there was a slight increase in his hearing ability since he'd gotten his splices, mostly being able to hear lower frequencies. That said, his hearing was still nowhere near someone who got splices with the intention to hear better, or got animal bits from species who were much better in that department.

Even so, he was the one with the most capability right now, so he stepped in front of Isaac, back pressed against the wall as he let his hearing focus on the area in front of them. He closed his eyes and listened for anything that might indicate someone out there, talking, footsteps, even a cough. Once Crowlin was sure that there were no sounds that would indicate someone in the area, he looked to Isaac and nodded.

Crowlin was pleased that there weren’t any more obstacles than either of them really expected on the way down to the slums. This kind of thing wasn’t usually what he did when it came to less-than-legal activities. Playing the part of the ghost and keeping his hands as clean as possible were the ways that he preferred to play the game. No need for a hacker to put himself in any unnecessary danger after all.

He followed Isaac through the alleyways, careful to trace his steps so that they weren’t spotted by any security cameras. His identity was well hidden with the hood over his head and the balaclava covering his face up to over his nose, but for Crowlin, the less that any authority figures saw of him the better.

The two of them finally crossed the last border into the slums, Crowlin hefting his boxes over one at a time, using his tail to help balance himself as he did so. Once on the other side, it seemed that the two of them had earned a well-deserved break. Crow taking the moment to catch his breath while squatting down next to one of the boxes he took, lightly picking through to see what food it held. He turned to look at Isaac as he said he could take the rest, though tossing the out to Crowlin for him to take some to sell for himself. This brought a bit of a smile under his black covering.

“Nooo no. My main goal for now is just to inconvenience the cops and government. Besides, I’m sure you already know where you want this food to go. I can at least help you get it there before calling it a night.”

Crowlin stood up and turned to Isaac, looking down at his offered hand for a second. When he was out and about as he was now, avoiding contact with anyone he didn’t know or explicitly trust was usually a major point for him. He never knew whether someone could use even something as a simple handshake as an opportunity to surprise and pin him, shock him with an electrical device, or plant some kind of bug on him somehow. That being said, Crowlin didn’t expect the fellow thief to really be anything but that. Either because of how similarly young the guy seemed, his demeanor, or simply the fact that he broke into a government facility to bring food down to the slums. What a Robin Hood this guy is. It reminded him of the old stories his mother used to read him as a boy.

“And here I was gonna start calling you ‘Blue’. You can call me Omen. Your local anti-police-and-government hacker.”

Crowlin reached out and took Zail’s hand, shaking it with a little extra strength afforded to him through his physical additions.

Crowlin had to admit, it wasn’t his usual work but he agreed that it felt good to do this kind of work. Whether he would consider doing something like it again, that was questionable. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that his usual work wasn’t quite as hands on as the past evening had been, certainly not for as long as it had lasted.

“It’d definitely be more difficult the second time around. The cops are probably already working to figure out what exactly we did back at the lot.”

That was a concern for another time however, and Crowlin would be happy to see what kind of attempt to improve cyber security they made after what the two of them had managed to do. He turned a picked up his boxes as well, following Zail’s lead and walking down through the slums. He didn’t recognize where they were, his own trips to the area usually taking him to the deeper parts of the run down sections of the city. That’s where those who were looking for a hacker’s help tended to reside at least.

It wasn’t long before the two of them arrived at a nearby soup kitchen, making their way to the back door. He was about to set his boxes down as well when he saw Isaac pulling his lock picking tools and getting to work on the door.

“I really should learn how to do that. Certainly comes in handy.”

As soon as the door was open, Crowlin slipped his boxes inside after his partner in crime’s. Blue locked the door again and closed it up tight with the food safely inside and Crowlin took a deep breath under his balaclava to mark the finalization of their accomplishment.

“Now that we’re finished delivering breakfast, I think some dinner sounds pretty good.”