Infiltration

"Caleb! You fucking bastard!"

Every time Caleb thinks about it, it makes him burst into laughter. It's been a week since he sent it to him during that boring party and today is the scheduled day of his heist.

"I can't wait to see his annoyed face once I get that device of his!" he uttered in such excitement.

His hideout is hidden somewhere between the borders of two major empires. The way to Bionic is pretty far away but he has his way of traveling.

He owns… stole, a high-tech vehicle that shrinks when it isn't needed. He didn't get its name since he just took it right after messing with Derek Shawn, the creator, at Frealance Empire where he stole it.

He just called the vehicle, Bike.

He really outdid himself that time. Naming the stolen vehicle is one of his great achievements. Well, he's bad in naming things so it's an overwhelming success for him in naming such great loot with such a well-planned and well-thought name.

The Bike looks like a small toy bike, a motorcycle, when in standby mode. If you toss it on the ground, it would immediately expand in size and becomes a fully functional high-tech motorcycle in a dark blue hue.

As he tosses it on the ground, he then gazes up and yelled, "Deither! Get out of the treehouse now! We still need to stop by the forest before going to the Bionic! Hurry!"

Deither then burst out from the treehouse and then climb up to his shoulder.

"Okay, hold tight!" he said they went off.

Caleb made a pit stop at the forest near Bionic because of some personal business. Later, he left and proceeded to his next objective, the Aegis.

It's already twilight when he sees a glimpse of the empire. Although he's still 20 kilometers away, he can already see the giant walls of the Bionic Empire.

Bionic Empire is known for its great walls. Its walls are impenetrable and strong. Bionic built these high and sturdy walls to protect the whole empire from harm and thieves, especially from him. No matter how high and strong the walls become, he could still infiltrate the empire. All because he knew a secret entrance to the empire that only a few criminals know and use to infiltrate the empire.

He stops near a forest around eight in the evening. He sneaks into the forest, a kilometer away from the main gate of Chine City, and went to the secret passage. He needs to be cautious and careful since there are cameras and there are also two destructive and overpowered turrets built at the main gate.

"I wish they still haven't figure out anything about this," he mumbled, showing a few worries.

He took a remote in his fanny pack and pushes the button. After pushing the button, lights from the wall flickered and then turned off. The two turrets stop moving and lost power.

"Fuck! It still works!" he exclaimed in joy. "I couldn't believe that they still haven't discovered the jamming device I installed in the Watchtower!"

He then sneaks his way towards the secret entrance since there are still security droids roaming around.

The secret entrance is a metal door.

Yup, a door.

This metal door has a cloaking device. Finding the door is a bit challenging since you need to find its exact location and enter quickly before any security droid sees you. Every time he thinks about it, he would burst into laughter. Darryl is always perplexed by how he could still enter the empire despite the innovation he made to their defense ever since the beginning of his leadership.

All of those upgrades are wasted just because of a forgotten door.

Hilarious! Caleb thought.

"Well, at least Darryl knows how to amuse me. Heyward Symmachus was a boring leader!"

After entering the first layer of defense, everything that comes after is much easier since the Bionic Empire gives more attention to the first layer of defense rather than to the internal defenses.

He had successfully entered Chine City.

Each city has its gates, known as Imperial Gates, connected to the outside world. The capital city, Droid City, has four City gates which let the other four cities have access to the capital city because Droid City has another protective wall. The Imperial Gates and the City Gates have the second-highest level of security. Chine City is the only place where there's a hidden door that Caleb could use to enter the empire.

Using the Imperial Gate is a bit risky because security droids will absolutely stop anyone who doesn't have any identification and authorization to enter the empire. Also, once they detected a person with a criminal record, they will have a longer waiting time to enter. If you are a wanted criminal and used the entrance gate to enter, you're already signing your death wish.

In Caleb's case, he could easily pass through the gates without any scratch but it would only alert the whole empire which is troublesome. He knows because he already tried it thrice and it drained all of his stamina. He barely escaped on his third time. And that forced him to never use the entrance gate as an entrance ever again, literally.

On his way to Droid City, a significant increase in the number of security droids was seen. He quietly sneaks into a small establishment, meters away from the walls of Droid City, far away from the gates. He immediately went to the basement and look for a specific wall. As he found it, he uncloaked the hidden passage through the capital city. It was also connected to another building on the other side. It was a secret passage that no one ever knows. As he arrived on the other side, security becomes a lot more intense. He quietly sneaks his way through the city until he decided to climb a building.

"That Mr. Red guy wasn't lying after all, huh! And it seems that Darryl leveled it up a bit. It must be one of his security protocols," he whispered while hiding on a rooftop of a 6 storey building, staking out.

His target device is in the NTC, the Imperial building of the Bionic Empire.

"Entering that luxury skyscraper is easier than using the entrance gate," he remarked.

In reality, NTC is the most secure building in the Bionic Empire. It has the same level of security as the entrance gates.

Caleb can say that it's easy to infiltrate because of the sewer tunnels. From there, he'll find the door that leads into a room. From there, he will find a long corridor that would eventually direct him to another room where the access shaft for the ventilation system is installed and he would climb his way into the building.

NTC uses the active ventilation system. Its ducting, ventilation shaft, and grille have a much bigger size compared to a regular ventilation system. It is because NTC is a massive infrastructure that produces so much heat from the inside. He doesn't know why but he has no time to investigate.

As he lifts a sewer hole cover, he immediately jumps down and waited for something.

"He should be doing some kind of announce—"

Just as he was expecting. An alert for an announcement resounded.

"Citizens! I am very sorry for scaring you with what I just did," Darryl apologizes. "Don't worry—"

With that, he covered the sewer hole and continue to trail the sewer tunnels. It was complete darkness but good thing Orion can produce light, Orion has a built-in flashlight.

Forgotten passages are basically Bionic's only weakness.

After a couple of minutes, he saw a door that would lead into an empty room. He then started walking slowly with an unhesitating pace in the corridor and looked for the room with the access shaft. As Caleb found the room, he opened the access shaft and then climbs through the grille and into the ducting. As he found the horizontal shaft, he quickly begins to look for the ventilation shaft. The ventilation shaft has a larger space and size compared to the ducting. As Caleb observes the ventilation shaft, he saw two massive fans rotating in a different direction.

"I almost forgot about these annoying fans!" he groaned. "The last time I was here, it wasn't this hot."

He observes the fans as he keeps sweating because of the temperature inside the ventilation shaft.

"The fans spin at a moderate speed. Deither, hold tight," he advised as he steps backward to gain momentum.

He stretches his arm, swirls his head, and shakes his hands before the big leap. Deither looks at him and hoots in nervousness. There was a questionable expression seen in Deither's face as Deither grips on his shoulder tightly.

The fans are 50ft high. The vertical shaft is tubular and has enough space to freely run around. Caleb instantly runs in a circle, takes the Orion in the form of a grappler, and shoots the center hub of the bottom fan. He then runs beside the tubular walls. He runs and jumps on each opposite side of the ventilation shaft. Leaping from each side, running nonstop. After a series of leaping and running, he is finally near the fans. As he comes closer, he pulled himself upward with all of his strength as it boosted his upward thrust that made Deither cover his eyes in terror. Deither couldn't help himself but scream. Caleb lands on the center hub of the bottom fan and jumps down with style as the Orion breaks their fall.

Caleb slowly set his foot back on the ground like nothing happened. Deither was shivering in fear as Caleb burst out laughing.

"I'm just messing with you, buddy!"

Deither scuffled Caleb's head for making fun of him.

"Ouch! Hey!" Caleb rasped.

Caleb is still chuckling when he said, "Those fans' speed, it's lethal if we get hit. We'll just repeat the same thing we do to pass those things. Orion…" he then takes the Orion and pointed it to the fans, "…EMP gun!"

The Orion transformed into an electromagnetic pulse gun and shot the fans.

The two massive fans are slowly turning off.

After it halted from spinning, Caleb ordered again the Orion to transform into a grappling hook gun and hook the top where an opening for a duct can be seen. Upon reaching the end part of the grappling hook, he started to find his way through the ducting. It is much easier for him now to infiltrate the building because he could just use the ventilation system for a way in with the assistance of the Orion by simply turning off the fans, temporarily, unlike those days where he has to make a scene to enter the building. Those days are very exhausting.

On his way, he passes a grille, he stops and takes a peek. He noticed new droids, with new designs and huge sizes which makes Caleb think that they're bad news for him.

"What do you think, Diether? Should we dance with those?" he whispered as Diether disagrees.

Dealing with that kind of droids during his entrance might consume a lot of time.

"Maybe you're right," he agreed.

He continues to find his way into the duct until he reaches a much wider area, it looks more like a room, where he can stand still. From there, he saw a fuse box. On its cover, there was a printed word 'Ventilation System'. It is the thing he was looking for.

"Found you!"

He pulled some wires, while Deither presses some buttons, and for some finishing touches, he kicked the fuse box. After the fuse box sparks from the kick, he expected some alarm for its destruction but there was no alarm.

"That's odd," he mumbled as he waited for another minute to see if there would be still no alarm.

"Sigh, I must think of another diversion," he sighs in annoyance. "It's strange nothing happened after kicking it."

He thought of a new idea as he sits down. Deither jumps down from his shoulder. Deither hops up and down repeatedly as Deither pointed to Caleb's watch. He lit up in excitement as he realizes what Deither wants to tell him.

"You're brilliant!" he exclaimed in his thrill.

"Let the fun begin!" he grinned as a bright blue light lit up which was produced by the watch.