After knocking Marcus out, Tyrone teleported the duo towards the docks.
When they initially arrived, the waterfront was very quiet and inconspicuous, in a way that no-one would ever look into unless they had a specific reason.
Cargo cranes loomed like skeletal giants against the night sky, their long arms shifting containers with slow, deliberate precision. Floodlights illuminated the entire area.
The duo moved across the top of various stacks of cargo containers until they reached Sector 9, which was far away from most of the other active shipping lines, deliberately isolated and a perfect environment for shadiness.
Tyrone and Tandy stood atop a rusted storage structure overlooking the zone, both of them crouched low as they watched the activity below.
At first glance, it looked normal. They spotted refrigerated trucks lined up in neat rows, containers stacked normally and workers in reflective vests moving between them with clipboards and handheld scanners.
But it didn't take long to see what was wrong.
"They're too organized, and all of them are on guard," Tandy murmured.
Tyrone nodded slightly, "Those security guards all keep their hands right on their holsters, and even the regular workers have hidden weapons on them,"
Tandy's lenses adjusted, scanning heat signatures across the area.
"…Tyrone."
"I see it."
Towards the perimeter, they could see two police cruisers sitting near the outer checkpoint. The lights on the cars were off, with the engines idling.
The Officers leaned casually against the vehicles, talking like it was just another slow night. Their body cameras were all suspiciously off as well.
None of the officers were looking at the dock like civilians, but instead like guards.
Tyrone's jaw tightened.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "That's not normal."
Tandy's voice dropped, "They're not here to respond. They're here to protect it. I wonder how deep this corruption goes,"
Tyrone exhaled slowly, shadows curling tighter around his body, "That explains how they've been operating this openly."
Tandy glanced at him, "What's the play?"
He watched the pattern below for a few more seconds. Identifying the routes and rotations, and the extremely small blind spots that would last for only a couple seconds at a time.
"…We don't go through them," he said.
A faint ripple of darkness spread outward from his feet.
"We go under."
Tandy didn't hesitate.
"Do it."
The world folded.
Darkness surged outward, swallowing them both as Tyrone's cloak wrapped around Tandy completely. The sound of the docks vanished instantly. Light disappeared. Even gravity felt… distant.
Tyrone slipped through the shadows, targeting the mobile facility located in the middle of all of these containers.
When they reappeared inside, they were hit with air colder than the night's.
Industrial refrigeration units hummed along the walls, pumping a constant chill through the space. Rows of large containers filled the warehouse floor, each marked with medical insignia and hazard labels
Tyrone and Tandy stood in the shadow of one of the stacks, completely concealed, "…We're in," Tandy whispered.
Tyrone nodded once, "Stay close."
With that, the duo began moving silently.
The first guard came around the corner without warning.
He never had time to react.
Two hands cloaked in pure darkness wrapped around his neck and yanked him backwards into the eternal darkness. The guard's mouth opened to shout and alert his mates, but nothing came out.
A tendril of shadow slipped across the floor, wrapped around his ankle, and yanked him backward into the darkness. His mouth opened to shout, but nothing came out.
He was gone, pulled fully into the Darkforce dimension in less than a second.
Tandy didn't even break stride, trusting Tyrone to handle that as she continued forward.
The deeper they went, the more wrong the place felt. They passed open container doors revealing equipment inside. Medical rigs and containment pods.
Portable generators emitting that same faint blue hum Tyrone had memorized.
Tandy slowed near one, her Light flickering slightly, "…It's the same energy."
Tyrone placed a hand against the container's exterior and he could feel the aggressive, unstable energy pulsing beneath the surface.
~STEP~STEP~STEP!~
As they were noticing this, the sound of footsteps approaching them echoed, two this time.
They rounded the corner mid-conversation.
"…shipment moves at 0300,"
"Drug collection at 0100, this is the third drug prototype,"
The duo turned the corner, but couldn't react to the incoming attacks.
Tandy moved like a flash. Two light daggers formed instantly in her hands, not thrown, but pressed, one at each of their necks.
Then, all it took was a precise, controlled burst of light and both men collapsed silently, and she caught one before he hit the ground, lowering him carefully while Tyrone caught the other, giving her a brief glance.
"Clean, we should stay till 1:00am, see who's the one delivering these drugs. We can get this prototype and research it," Tyrone said and she nodded.
They kept moving, and the warehouse opened up further ahead to a large chamber, which was heavily guarded.
This time, Tyrone stopped them before they entered. He crouched slightly, shadows spreading outward along the floor like ink.
"I count twelve," he said under his breath.
Tandy adjusted her stance.
"I've got eight clear lines if I go wide."
"No," Tyrone said quietly. "We don't risk noise."
She glanced at him.
"What are you thinking?"
"Haven't we been training our powers a-lot, time to put them to good use," Tyrone said, as his Cloak bellowed, an eerie, pitch black darkness flooding outwards like a wave.
They surged across the floor, up walls, across ceilings, and then snapped back, waves of darkness passing through each of the guards.
Then, they all simultaneously dropped to the floor without any struggle. Just unconscious bodies hitting the ground in eerie unison.
Tandy blinked once, "When did you learn that?"
"Not long ago," Tyrone said and they stepped into the chamber.
"What the fuck," Tandy muttered as she saw what was inside the chamber.
Rows of reinforced containers sat open, revealing what was inside.
People.
Not hundreds like before, but still at least 3 dozen. All of them strapped into upright harness frames instead of pods.
Each one connected to portable injection systems, blue liquid pulsing slowly into their veins, and unlike the underground facility, these ones weren't dormant.
Their eyes were open, and they were breathing in a very controlled and stable manner.
Tandy froze.
"…Tyrone."
"I see it."
There wasn't any convulsions or violent spasms. These ones were… holding.
"They weren't lying," Tandy whispered.
"They fixed it."
***
( Finally got some free time )