Chapter 123

July 5, 1349. Thursday.

Alvin walked into the bar early in the morning, at 5. Today would be the day the Machinery Hivemind would take action against the factory. Alvin was going to be an important part of this action as previously decided. He was supposed to be the bait.

The Machinery Hiveminds promised to provide him with some protective equipment to survive better. He was also wearing the Lifesaver and holding the Sword of Culling with him, along with usually guns, ammo, knives and mask.

"Oh Alvin, you there you are. There are no problems with the strikes happening today I trust?" asked Sven as soon as he spotted Alvin.

"Everything is set. No workers will come to the Tintin factory to the surroundings factory today" assured Alvin.

"Excellent. We will start shortly. Before that, here is the extra protection we promised" said Sven, as he handed Alvin a box.

Inside the box were three metal plates, as well as 6 charms.

"The three metal plates are our shock-absorbing plates. Toss them out in the direction of an attack, and almost all Sequence 7 physical attacks will be blocked. The effects are slightly reduced for a Sequence 6 attack, but it should be able to take a portion of the impact. There are 2 charms each of The Fleet-Footed charm, which allows you to have exceptional agility and acrobatic skills for a brief period of time. These two are the Steam-Pressure charms. It sends a burst of high-pressure steam around you when activated. You will be immune to its effects, but the people in the surrounding will suffer both a brief loss of vision and some surface burns. The last 2 are the Heavy charms. If you stick them onto some object, the object turns unexpectedly heavy. You will not be able to feel the weight though, and can still pick up the object as if it were of normal weight. If you put this onto your sword, for example, you can swing it easily, but the receiver will not be about to block it" explained Sven.

Alvin thanked him and pocketed all the items. He then sat down with the other 4 members of the unit waiting for Bruce to address them and green light the mission.

"Hey Alvin, I want to show you something" said Harold suddenly. "A woman came by yesterday, multiple times across the day. She kept he distance and kept circling, but I could see she was looking at the bar. She didn't take any action, so I ignored her. I have a picture. See if you can recognise her" he said handing over a photo.

Alvin looked at the picture, which was a bit blurry due to the distance. But he immediately recognised the figure, as the Witch he saw in Sophia's dream yesterday.

Alvin decided to keep her existence quiet for now, and said, "I don't know who she is. Might be a former client who referred her to me to get some work done. If she comes again while I am here, I will ask"

Harrold nodded, and did not ask further.

After a while, the cube in front of them flickered, and Bruce's face came on it.

"Alright. So I have informed and been coordinating with MI9. They will keep all units in check, and we are free to apprehend any Beyonders we find inside the factory. Alvin has made sure that no ordinary people will be there to prevent needless casualties. Try not to damage the factory, but worse come to worst, you are free to blow the place to high hell. So the plan is as follows; Alvin will first sneak in and trigger all the traps in the room with the secret passage. There might be one or two Beyonders on the factory who might be alerted, but he will hold them off for a while. Then, the reinforcements of those one or two Beyonders should arrive, in the form of a few more Beyonders. Sven, the unit of the Machinery Hivemind led by you will enter the factory discreetly through the route scouted earlier and lie in wait. Monitor the surroundings using the necessary equipment, and when you detect multiple Beyonders arriving, launch an attack and aim to swiftly capture them. Alvin will pretend to be a random intruder to life the rest, but you all should prominently display your badges and emblems. If they surrender, you can accept if you feel they are sincere. I will take care of the subsequent negotiations. if anything goes wrong, you can use the distress signal or unseal the full power of 2-31 depending on the circumstances" said Bruce solemnly. He then told Sven a couple of other precautions and courses of action, after which he faded from the screen.

"Well team, we have a massive assignment in front of us. But we also have the best people, and thus, I am sure we will succeed. Glory to the God of Machinery" said Sven, drawing a triangular symbol across his chest, which the other members of the Machinery Hivemind mirrored.

After that, Alvin walked out of the bar. According to the plan, he was supposed to go to the factory first, and wait. He was also given a mechanical watch by Sven. When the watch beeped, that meant that the Machinery Hiveminds were ready, and he should trigger the warning mechanisms and prepare to fight.

Upon reaching the factory, Alvin easily accessed the room without triggering any traps. Since he was planning to fight here, he would of course keep some traps ready. And he had another purpose in accessing this room early.

Upon confirming no one was around, Alvin pulled out the Red Castle from inside his jacket pocket, and opened it. He then proceeded to pack up all the valuable artwork and antiques in the room, and replacing them with fakes that were smeared with oil and gunpowder.

After this whole incident was over, people would naturally assume that the thousands of pounds worth of art were burnt up. And Alvin would be thousands of pounds richer if he found the right black market dealer.