The shadows became alive as the Zair - actually, his pilot - moved inbetween patrols as the woman looked back at her mapping device carefully held in her left hand, a silenced pistol ready in her right. A knife lay sheathed at her hip, as another knife handle protruded from her left boot. Two extra magazines were held at her waist, as yet another dagger layed bare its sharp, sleek edge. 36 bullets and three knives came into the complex uninvited - not as many would make it back out.
The handheld device in her left hand blinked a warning light as its light turned off, warning the user of an approaching heat source. She glanced around at her surroundings and found a few barrels a few feet - but across an intersection, which would bring her in sight of the guards.
"Hey, you hear that noise?" One of the gaurds immediately stopped and readied his gun to fire.
"Hear what? You must be hearing things again! That's the third time tonight..." A woman's voice sounded like clear-cut mockery in the still halls that echoed even the smallest sounds. A playful slap on the shoulder later, the man went off ahead to check the rest of the hallway, leaving the woman alone by herself.
"Hah, this has to be the easiest job ever: no one would ever dare to try to sneak in here..."
The sound of falling material was not heard by the female gaurd - nor did her partner notice as the butt of a pistol made contact with a skull. Taking her chances, the pilot of the Zair had jumped up and stood between the walls of the hall as the two bantered, one finally leaving - her feet were actually only an arm's reach above the heads of the guards. She dragged the body behind the barrels across the hallway, and took her spot again, blanketed by sheer darkness.
Approaching footsteps came from the wrong hallway - it apparently circled around and unto itself as the handheld again went dark. She would just have to hope that he didn't peek behind the barrels...
"Hah, the gal left me here all alone. I'll just have a go at my stash..."
He headed toward the barrels - she knew she had caught the scent of some form of illict substance as she dumped the body near them. She drew out her pistol and took aim, still perched at the tops of the hallways, her legs keeping her out of sight. She waited until the right moment presented itself, as the man put away his gun and began to lift one of the barrels.
"What the he-!" He never got to finish his sentence as the air meant to go through his vocal cords and mouth escaped through a new hole in his throat. He began to grope for something at his waist - an alarm, most likely - as another hole was created through his helmetless skull. Too easy, the killer thought: too easy.
She dropped down once again and moved the dead body, using part of the uniform to wipe up the trail of blood that came at no charge. It was dumped across from the unconcious woman, but it really didn't matter - she would wake up long after the infiltrator was done and gone.
A few relaxing minutes - and nearly a kilometer later - she leaned around yet another corner as the handheld warned of bodies, though the were still at a safe distance. Down the hallway, the crack of a door let light flood into the dark hallway, loud talk and hearty laughter echoing into the hallway.
She hacked into a nearby security console (curiously left unguarded) and again disabled the automated turrents throughout the entirety of the building, reenacting the silent state that she had enabled before. She crept up to the door and stopped for a short stint of eavesdropping.
"Whatever it is we've been told to keep safe, I could give a rat's ass about whatever the hell it is!" The trio roared with laughter, their levels of inebriation apparent as even the listener had slight trouble making out the words through the slurs. They were hiding something? She was here to plant a few charges, set their timers, and leave - but she might have to take a detour.
One of the drinkers had apparently passed out as hushed whispers overpowered the room - they were apparently pulling a prank on their unconcious 'friend.' The intruder jumped as a chair burst through the now open door, followed by yet more shouting. A lump of a body followed the shattered chair as he slumped against the wall, asleep - a pistol was more than ready to silence any sounds he might make if his eyes were even to slightly open.
The last drunken guard that was still able to walk stumbled into the hallway, using the wall across the door for support as he threw up on his leg's friends. Disgusting, the Zair's pilot thought - this was just too much to bear. She snuck up behind the poor guy and smashed the handle of her pistol against the back of his head, just hard enough to have him slump beside his friend, with just as much thought as he. She kicked him onto his side, just to lessen the threat of death by drowning in his own vomit.
She headed inside the room and found cans of beer stacked on top of one another, towering atop the figure slumped onto the table. She was nice, but not that nice - she left her there to wake up to her own surprise. She hacked through the security network yet again, the system providing as much resistance as a hot knife through a stick of butter. After a quick minute of searching, and a few more cracked codes, she located the location of the mystery package: it was actually being hidden in the same room as her target. How lucky...
She craned her neck back into the hallway and looked both ways before continuing on, security cameras seemingly tracking every movement in the hallway, but were in reality looping the last thirty seconds of silence. As she neared another intersection, she heard the mechanical rotations of a camera, a soft snore audible from beneath it.
She looked around and was caught staring straight at the guard's opened eyes - he was only faking. She quickly turned the corner and made her way quickly toward the man, immobilized by the fact the he had been caught unawares. He stopped snoring as he began to grasp the events occuring, as Zair's pilot was less then an arm's length away, her knife ready to plunge into his throat.
The mat grunted, turned in his chair, and got into a more comfortable position as his eyes rolled and he curled up onto the furniture's arm. Even though his eyes were open, he was sound asleep. She quickly sheathed the dagger and took the keycard that had once been in his pocket - it was now lying on the floor, asking to be stolen. The door just beyond the sleeping man received the correct codes that the keycard sent once it had passed through the slide. It opened after a few electronic beeps, the metal doors silently shifting aside.
Her target - and the mysterious package - were in plain sight before her. Not wanting to take chances, she placed the charges within and around the generators, all seven explosives placed precisely as planned. A few meters to the left of the last, a small, inconspicuous box lay unopened, as if asking to be taken.
She tested the box's weight as she tapped it with her boot - it weighed less than her pistol. She knelt down onto the floor while simultaneously drawing one of the daggers, using it to cut though the tape and give access to the unknown contents.
Many foam peanuts (and a few amusing loud bubble pops) later, a jewel case revealed itself near the middle of the box - it was one of those minidiscs, and it made her wonder why such a small objects was placed in a container so large, at least relative to its size.
No matter - she pocketed the disk after emptying the remainder of the shipping protectants on to the floor, just to make sure that she hadn't missed anything. She checked her timer once again, and was astonished to find that this little side quest took her much longer than she had anticipated. She would have to run back down the length of the compound to make it out before the security systems were working properly once again.
After a quick and thorough check of her explosives, she ran out the barely opened metal doors, a pair of eyes watching her pass that could not hear her silent feet fall onto the bare metal floors. Turning the corner, she noticed that further down the hallway that the drunkard was still passed out, his friend to her side. A passing glance into the opposite room told her that their freind had not yet awaken, her unkept hair falling off of the side of the circular table.
She ran towards the exit - her entrance - and ducked down into the ventilation shafts that she had earlier scaled. The rope she left was still there, shoved into the ceiling with her pistol. She slid down the rope and softly hit the floor, giving the rope a few good tugs before its teeth released their grip - the metal head clanged on the floor, quickly silenced by a boot. She coiled it up and put it over her left shoulder as she headed off through the service doors, ducking behind a trash bin as a janitor passed by.
She stalked out of the door into the cool night air. Checking her watch, the security cameras went online as she hid behind the bin - it was a good thing that the alarms had not gone off. She crept in the dark night back to the Zair, inputting the correct passcodes to allow herself access to the cockpit.
As she softly padded away, a fellow shadow fell in place with hers - but it did not belong to the Zair.