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„Mission-- abort!
-Get— out of there r- ight now!”
Parker’s voice sounded far away through the communicator. The farther they stepped through the tunnel, the more their voice was cut off, a strange static echoing over it. Leandro stopped in his tracks, rocking back and forth on his feet, as he tried to place the instruction. Everything had been going smoothly so far. The command was unusual, he couldn't detect even an ounce of danger in their vicinity. Whatever it was must either be silent enough to get drowned out by their own footsteps on the dark gray floor or far enough away that they still had time to swiftley make their escape. There was something off about it.
In front of him Akira was still marching onward, only coming to a halt now that Leandro wasn't following behind him. Akira raised an eyebrow at him, Leandro in turn put a finger to his lips. The walls surrounding them barely left enough space to pass by and stretched just high enough for them to barely reach back into the vents they had come through. They were trapped in darkness as the hall was barely lit and aside from some electronic buzzing, whose origin he couldn't quite place, he couldn't detect anything. Akira stepped closer to him now clearly on edge. He listened in for another note from Parker but there was nothing except more static. Cautiously he traced his steps back a bit, but that didn't seem to do much until a faint cracking emerged from the speaker. It was followed by another sound that he must have clearly misheard, because to him it was reminiscent of a faint chuckle sifting through the noise. Parker liked to play tricks on their team but to leave them hanging like that out of nowhere was not like them.
"What's wrong?"
Leandro wasn't sure how to answer. He should tell him that they needed to leave but the piece of equipment they were supposed to "burrow" was detrimental to the success of their next mission. And, according to their map, they were close enough to grab it.
Akira was fiddling with his communicator too now and Leandro called out for their friends but there was no getting through to them.
“I guess it must have died a while ago. Should we go back?” Akira asked.
Leandro tapped his fingers against his gun holster to a rhythm he couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t the sound of the air conditioning running in the background, whirring over their heads. Man those people must have it nice. Why go through so much trouble for a storage facility?
“No. No, we’ve already come this far. Besides, it'll be the faster way down, unless you want to crawl down all those vents again.”
They had snuck in through a delivery entrance to then make their way up more hidden paths. Strangely enough, nobody had stopped them at the door, which had already felt odd to him. Who was getting technical deliveries this late at night?
Akira nodded at him. "Ok. Be prepared though."
They kept on walking and as the slight rhythm grew louder and louder in the distance his unease grew. He glanced forward to Akira whose hand was resting on one of his knives strapped to his belt. As they approached the door leading them further into the building, he was tempted to turn back around again. The connection to Parker was completely dead at this point and he couldn't concentrate on his surroundings with the strange sound coming from the other side of the door melting into the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. He took a deep breath as Akira started pushing the door open.
It was a lot heavier than they expected and they had to lean against it with their whole body weight to get it to open a little. Loud music was blasting at them but Leandro was too focused to pay it much mind. It was irritating and almost made him drop his weapon, but he wouldn't let that distract him. He had pulled out one of his pistols and shoved it through the crack, before they pushed the door open and stumbled into the room, an array of flashing lights hitting them. Leandro had never lowered a gun this quickly. Behind him Akira was ready to jump into action but he grabbed him by the sleeves of his jacket and jerked him behind a large plant adorning the walls and spreading its leaves far into the party room. Because that was exactly what they had just stumbled into.
Instead of the highly guarded equipment room, they had stepped into a room filled with people in their finest attires, jumping across the room to the rhythm that had been driving him crazy the last few minutes. Usually they would have stuck out like a sore thumb but nobody seemed to take notice of them, not with waiters in all kinds of clothing rushing around caring for whoever found the timing between all the celebrating to tap them on the shoulders and send them off with an order. Leandro had to take a moment to sort himself. Akira seemed to adjust much quicker.
“What the heck is this?” he mumbled, stashing his knife away.
He still looked very much ready to pounce as he was craning his neck to scan the room. It looked much less trist than the rest of the building, the gray having vanished from the walls and floors and instead having been replaced by bright colors and more plants than Leandro had seen inside a building in forever. The different colored lights were bouncing off them and even the table decorations and food were set on theme and drenched in fluorescent motives. If he could, Leandro would have stayed there forever, but he grew all too aware of the weapons on his person as Akira grabbed his hand.
“Seems like Parker is playing a joke on us.”
“I don't think so.” Leandro countered feeling the need to defend his friend. “I think it might have been an accident.”
“What kind of accident lets one crash into the wrong building?”
Leandro swiftly pulled out the shirt he had tucked into his pants in an attempt to cover up the gun holsters. He was waiting for somebody to point out their presence and kick them out.
“Maybe we're just on the wrong floor?”
Akira was pulling him up again and steered them along the wall to the edge of the room where the wall turned into glass, letting their gaze drop down into the city below. He scrunched his nose for a second. The neon city lights were a stark contrast to the dim but glimmering lights around them. It was a strange mixture of calmness and something enticing that didn't seem to fit with the fast paced music yet simultaneously enhanced its effect to an extent it almost made him dizzy. He wanted to run and bathe in it at the same time. His mind couldn't quite decide if he liked it there or wanted to get his feet back down on the safety of the street, where he would be running for entirely different reasons. Simultaneously he almost craved staying where he was.
“No definitely the right floor” Akira said finally and Leandro sighed internally.
Akira didn't like to waste time and while this was totally his thing they probably would leave again in an instant, now that they knew they were in the wrong place. He was entirely aware that this wasn't the world they lived in.
They screened the room once more while Akira let his knife slip under the sleeve of his cropped jacket - just in case. It would be best to go by unnoticed, pretend like they'd never even been there. Leandro looked back to the door they had come through but to his dismay a large group had gathered right in front of it, laughing loudly and swaying about, some of them leaning against the heavy door. Sneaking past them would be an option but then they could just as well take the risky route and pass through the middle. What better place to hide in than a crowd? They gave each other a nod and scattered through the first group of people that seemed to be more invested in themselves than anything.
“Seems like our map is still correct,” Akira said as they cowered between another plant and a music machine. He pointed towards a staircase at the other side of the room and they moved forward. Leandro watched with amusement and a crippling feeling of stress at the moving bodies around them. If they misstepped ever so slightly, happened to draw attention to themselves, if somebody happened to get the slightest glimpse of one of their weapons they'd be trapped. Still, everyone seemed to be blissfully unaware of their presence their eyes gliding over them as if they were part of the decoration. Something to be looked at but not paid any thought whatsoever. It was chilling to him almost but the longer they stayed inside the crowd the more he felt his feet stepping in beat to the music, his back straightening taking up more space as they squeezed past another group. He had almost convinced himself that he might like it there as someone bumped into them. They looked at each other for just a second too long and Leandro did the only thing he could get his brain to think of. He grabbed Akiras hand, careful not to cut himself on the blade still hidden there and spun them around. He swayed them past the person still eyeing them cautiously as if desperately trying to get their brain to work through the fog of the evening, moving past as if they had only come to dance tonight. They staggered off a little uncoordinated but since everyone was moving like they had left their head at home today, Leandro thought they were cutting a dash.
He smiled at Akira who smiled back at him for a split second, clearly amused about him, before his face fell, growing stern. He tapped at his shoulder almost unnoticeable when Leandro spun them around making their way closer to the staircase. He noticed someone that looked strikingly like security trudging through the masses towards them. Akira now grabbed his hand tighter and hurled them forward, completely aware that they were now causing quite a bit of a ruckus. They had no time to care about that though as they dashed around some confused dancers, picking up speed and gliding over tables filled with all kinds of delicacies. While he almost regretted not leaving in a more elegant fashion his body was glad to finally use up all of the adrenalin that had built up since they had set out that evening. It was almost like being able to breathe again, after he had to stay still for too long. They ran up the staircase, the security man's steps pounding upwards behind them, until they reached the final door and made it up onto the roof.
It was a lot cooler up here and Leandro immediately began to shiver. To his surprise there were even people gathered up here trying to hold conversations with each other over the music. The floor and walls had gone back to grey and metallics the lighting matching the city's neon lights. Around their feet a kind of smoke was wafting over the rooftop, wrapping the guests in purple clouds. Leandro let his hand glide through it playfully as they crossed over to the edge of the roof. Soon they were hidden behind the purple layers and helped each other jump over the ledge to an adjacent rooftop that lay a few feet below. The smoke was thinned out there and so they hid behind the ledge waiting for their heartbeats to calm down. They listened in to the noises around them but it seemed that nobody came looking for them. Instead another sound let Leandro prick up his ears. He pulled out his gun just in the moment something came whirring over to them. Akira was almost faster than him, throwing himself at the threat, but Leandro didn't want to take any more chances today. He fired a shot and the drone came crashing down. It tumbled to the ground crashing into pieces on the street below. If he was lucky it hadn't taken notice of them and they still had some time to leave.
Akira looked at him reproachfully and Leandro wasn't sure if it was because he had taken the hit away from him or if he had drawn too much attention to them. He looked around sheepishly but realized quickly that he needn't worry as at that moment the sound of the music had switched to a much louder beat making them cover their ears. Leandro glanced at his digital watch as someone on the other side adjusted the volume. Even if they were safe for the moment they needed to be mindful of their time. He followed Akira towards a quieter side of the roof.
Sweat was sticking his hair to his face and Leandro reached over to comb it out of his eyes.
Akira raised his arm to shake out his hair, knife still in hand, when Leandro noticed the other object in his palm.
“Is that a bouquet?”
“I snatched it from one of the tables.” He held it out to him. “ They're probably not going to miss it. And…”
Leandro took the flowers from him, his palms suddenly sweaty though definitely not from the dancing and running around.
“... I thought it was unfair they were hoarding all of this luxury when you deserve it so much more.”
Leandro leaned forward and pulled him close. While the people on the roof next to them were living in a trance, he felt like was seeing more clearly than he had in his entire life.
Who cared if they couldnt meddle with those people at the top of the city when they could be standing right here having everything they needed? It didn't truly matter to him if they were here or at a party, rushing through the streets or running down a dingy hall trying not to get caught. What mattered to him was that they were running together. And that was all he could ask for.
With a soft click Parker added themselves back into the conversation. “Did you enjoy the party?”
“Not funny Parker” Leandro scolded halfheartedly.
“Well, I tried to warn you but then I realised it wasn't worth the trouble and I'd just wait for you to figure it out until the connection was back.”
“Great. It's not like it would have been your head served to the guests if they had caught us.” Akira said, readjusting his weapons.
“Yeah how about you take some responsibility?” Leandro teased.
“Well, I might have accidentally sent you the wrong location, but its alsmot the correct building, so i basically did my job.”
"How did you err in the building?"
"Don't blame me, they encoded the map wrong on purpose. Besides, you're directly across from it, you'll be there in seconds."
They let out a sigh in unison.
“Mission statement is still the same. If you can get it done in 15 minutes you might still make it. Ka’Hua is almost done with making dinner.”
“Is that a challenge?”
Parker only laughed. “If you want us to leave some food for you.”
Next to him Akira rolled his eyes.
“I'll leave you be now.” And with that it was silent again except for the hammering of the music on the roof next to them. This time however they still had the security that Parker would not just vanish on them.
“You ready?” Akira asked, stepping to the edge of the roof, looking over to where they were headed. Leandro buckled the bouquet to his girdle, hoping he wouldn't lose too many of the petals until he was able to properly put flowers up somewhere.
“I'll race you there.”