Reconnaissance

'How can someone who is as powerful as him, be so emotional. They are all over the place. Happy one minute, irritated the next, and now he's sad. Good grief.'

"Alright guys, you all good?" Eric asked.

Alex said, "Yes," and the others nodded their heads. The three of them grabbed their tray, ready to leave.

"Before you all go, do any of you have a black hoodie or a jacket with a hood?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, I got one. You know black is my favorite color," Vincent replied.

'Of course I remember. You are a weird one. Thank goodness for Alex; he seems to be the only normal one. O, never mind; he's probably a freak too in some way. How did I become friends with all these weirdos?' Eric thought.

"Great, that will come in handy while sneaking around."

'I'm not going to tell them, but I have an extra stop after the offices,' He smiled because of his up-coming plan.

_____________

They all went to their room and did their normal thing to get ready for bed. The others would start keeping watch on Arlo tomorrow, while Eric's work would start tonight. While everyone changed into their sleeping clothes, Eric put the black hoodie on. He kept his slate gray uniform parts on since it was the darkest pair of pants that all of them had. His boots were black. The purpose of the hoodie was to hide his face or at least make his face less visible.

Everyone went to sleep. Eric lay on his bed with his arms under his head. Waiting for one o'clock. He thought that would be the best time.

'Man, I'm glad I took a nap earlier. If I hadn't, I would be too exhausted to do this.'

Once the clock struck one, he disappeared from his bed, leaving only an imprint of where he was.

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 79/84>

He appeared on the side of the barracks that faced the offices. There was a lamppole in front of the building illuminating the front part of the office building. He noticed there was one soldier that was walking around the perimeter of the building. While he was waiting, he observed that there were three soldiers that walked the perimeter of the entire campus.

'Hmmm. I need to do something to make myself even harder to be seen. That's a good idea.'

< Shadow Manipulation Activated>

Shadows started to envelop his body.

'Shadows can't be seen in the dark. I should be close to invisible as long as I stay in the shadows of night.'

< Congratulations! New ability acquired.>

< Shadow Camouflage Level 1>

< Cost: 10 RP points>

< Description: When shadow camouflage is active, the whole body will be covered in shadows. In darkness, you will be invisible to most. While active footsteps and basic movements will be muffled. The cost of this ability will not regenerate back until deactivated.>

'This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It just keeps blessing me more and more. I couldn't have asked for something better.'

< Current RP: 74/84>

'Wait, it should be lower than this. I just used my shadow a couple of minutes ago.'

Thats when he remembered his new ability he got from fighting Acer. Shadow invigorate recovers his RP points, one point every 5 seconds.

'It's like I was destined to succeed.'

He crouched down to make it even harder to be seen, even though he is practically invisible unless he walks into the light. He stayed in that position until the soldiers' pattern synced up just right where no one was near one side of the building.

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 69/84>

He appeared to be to the side where no soldiers were near. He was under one of the windows.

'When doing this stuff at night, I practically teleport.' He thought, pleased with himself.

He raised up, still in the crouching position, and looked through the window. There was no one inside, and there still wasn't any soldier within eyesight, so he took his chance.

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 64/84>

'I didn't realize how fast five seconds really was. In a fight, it will feel like eternity.'

He appeared in the hallway at the four-way intersection. Eric looked down each hallway to see if there was anyone there. After he confirmed that it was void of people. He checked to see if there were any lights on. That would be a clear indication of people being present in the building. The offices were pitch black, except for the window where beams of light came in from the light pole out front.

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 61/84>

He appeared in front of lieutenant Cater's office. Still in the crouching position, he rose up again and looked through the window to see if someone was in there, but he couldn't see anything. The windows were whited out.

'That's not helpful. But I don't see any light coming from the bottom of the door.'

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 58/84>

Now he was in the office of Lieutenant Cater. As he suspected, no one was to be found in the plain white room. The window in the wall of the lieutenant's office was whited out as well.

'That's odd. I don't remember the windows being whited out when I was here last. Something is definitely going on here.'

Eric let out a big sigh. Feeling accomplished with what he had done.

'Since I got in here without getting caught, mission completed. Tomorrow I'll go through files to see what I can. But I still have one more thing to do before going back to the barracks.

He vanished. He had his back up against a building, looking at the place he wanted to go. There was another light pole out in front of the building. Eric was staring at the door of the training center.

'There you are, my beauty. Eric, don't chicken out. Keep your eyes on the prize. It's ok; there's nothing wrong with what you are about to do. You have to do what you have to do. If you don't look out for you, no one will. The military doesn't even care if you die.'

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 55/84>

Then Eric vanished.