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It was late in the evening when the screen of a worn mobile phone previously lying idle atop a desk lights up, a reverberating tinkle echoing in the dark room and interrupting the peace within the shabby shack which sat in the deepest part of the city slums. A well-built man in a ratty-grey tank top intercepts the call quickly, not wanting the sound to wake the other sleeping occupant in the sorry excuse of a 1LDK they called a home.“Yes?”“The Dark Knights,” the voice on the other end states rather than asks.The man recognizes the caller immediately. “Sendak. How may we be of assistance?”
“I have another job for you.”
“You know the rules. How much?”
“Three times the usual. I believe that secures your acceptance?”
“Of course.” His voice quivers, overwhelmed. This must be quite the important job. “What’s the rundown?”
“Details will be sent over. It goes without saying that I expect nothing short of perfection.”
“Our team has a 100% success rate guarantee and we have always lived up to our reputation. I assure you this time won’t be different.”
“Indeed, that is the sole reason you continue receiving Missions for our cause. There will be consequences if you fail.”
“We won’t.”The call ends. Not a moment later, the phone pings signalling an incoming file. The man taps on the notification immediately, scrolling through the information displayed on the screen of his phone, the light from it illuminating his corner of the room. He was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice the sounds of rustling fabric.“Shiro?”Shiro whips around to find the previously sleeping figure sitting upright on the old, torn mattress and rubbing at his eyes blearily.“Sorry, Keith. Did I wake you?”“Nah, ‘s fine. Were you on a call?”“Yeah.”“Another job?” Keith’s voice was hopeful.“Yup.”“Great!” Keith jumps out of bed, instantly wide awake. He snaps his fingers and the room is immediately filled with crimson light, embers of varying sizes spitting out from the tips of his thumb and middle finger before whizzing upwards and staying afloat just below the rickety ceiling. “When do we start?”Shiro chuckles. “Tonight.” He holds the phone out and Keith pounces.Nothing more was said as the brothers prepared themselves for their latest job, both relieved the call came when it did. Resources had been running low lately and they were desperate for funds. When they were ready, they turned to face each other, game face on.“It’s time for the Dark Knights to rise again.”********** “It’s time for the Tailor’s Trio to strike!” Lance whoops, soaring high over the city and through clouds, wind chill biting into his cheeks as he glided through open air like a life-sized RC airplane. “These wings are fucking rad!”The referred ‘wings’ were Pidge’s latest invention, which sounds pretty cool at first but in reality was just a normal schoolbag (the dorky type even, a picture of a cartoon character emblazoned on its front) with twin steel blades protruding from each side. It was past midnight on a Thursday and most of the city was already asleep at this time of the night, save for several neon-lit nightspots downtown and streetlights dotting the dark roads. The sky was clear and the air crisp and clean – perfect weather for a hit. “Of course they are, I made them. And would you stop calling us that already?” Pidge moans through the earpiece stuck in Lance’s left ear.“No way! We all agreed on it from day one!”“No one agreed to anything!” Pidge screeches and Lance winces, accidentally pulling on a bag strap as he did so and almost sending himself catapulting downwards. “It’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard and you came up with it entirely by yourself AND unilaterally went ahead to implement it without our consent!”“Annnnnnnd that’s what everyone calls us now so it’s too late.” Lance righted himself up, short bangs and long stole whipping behind as he presses a button on the dark-blue goggles he wore, activating the GPS function. The lenses instantly blink into a 3D-screen, zooming in and automatically scanning the area below – they were coming close to their target. “Too bad, Pidgeotto. Guess the name’s sticking like peanut butter to jelly.”Another groan. “You are insufferable.”“Aww, I love you too, Pidgey.”
“Ugh, say something, Rhyhorn!”
“Nope,” Hunk’s voice comes muffled both through their joint communications line and from somewhere behind Lance. He sounded winded, which was not a good sign. “No, no. No can do. Sorry, guys, little busy right now, I think I feel a bit sick—" (“Oh, for crying out loud— did you take your tummy meds?”) (“Course’ I did, what do you take me for?”) (“—last time you forgot, I spent days fixing your suit!”) (“—hey, I’m doing my best here, alright?! I swear to God, the things I do for you two, you know how easily I get motion sickness and that’s just on a train let alone flying in the sky suspended on nothing but two flimsy pieces of metal, need I remind you both that I said ALL of this was a BAD IDEA but nooooooo, no one listens, no one EVER listens—ugh! Can’t talk! I’m gonna be sick—!”) (“—okay, okay! We get the point! Don’t throw up!”)“Anyway,” Hunk huffs, after he’d calmed down and felt a little more in control of his stomach. “The good news is me and Jigglypuff here are coming close to our mark. Oh, and by the way? I’m Geodude now, not Rhyhorn. I said so the last time, remember?”Lance snorts, eyes rolling. “Who even wants to be Geodude—!” (“Geodudes are cool! Stop insulting them!”) Lance ignores Hunk’s protests and continues. “And I’m a Dragonite! I told you guys during team briefing!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Jiggly. You change codenames quicker than you change your socks!”
“That’s not true! Ooh, you’re getting it this time, Pidgey, just you wait till we get back!”“Shhh! Quiet guys, we’re here!” Hunk shushes urgently.They came to a stop just slightly out-of-range of a large expanse of land situated at the edge of the city – a secluded area which opened up into a wild forest and beyond, a hilly area where nature ruled glorious.At first glance, the land looked empty.That was, until Lance and Hunk activated the de-Masking function built in their goggles, instantly revealing a single large mansion smack in the middle of the said land. Tall walls and what was sure to be state-of-the-art security surrounded the mansion. This was their target – Sendak’s secret, private dwelling.“As expected, it’s heavily guarded,” Lance whispers into their linked communications line, easily noting down the number of guards prowling the land with the benefit of his birds-eye view. He knew everything he was seeing through his goggles was being fed directly to Pidge’s computer in her safe-place.
“You need to get out of the sky. If they’re running any electromagnetic scanners above ground, your suits’ Camouflaging won’t help.”
“Got it.”Spotting a tool shed in a hidden corner on one side of the mansion, Lance gestures for Hunk to head there and they both zipped down as silently as possible. As they drew closer, a beeping sound echoed from their suits, alerting them that their Camouflaging systems had gone down and proving Pidge right. They were now completely visible to the naked eye.As quickly as they could, Lance and Hunk landed behind the tool shed which conveniently faced the mansion’s back entrance. Thankfully, security was thin here and they haven’t been detected.“We’re in, Pidgey.”
“Good. Commence Plan: Infiltrate Sendak’s Home.”